


The Prince of Puppets: A Jacksepticeye + Egos Fantasy AU

by RogueOfBrokenTime



Series: The Prince of Puppets [1]
Category: Sean McLoughlin - Fandom, jacksepticeye, jacksepticeye egos - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fantasy, Gen, No Romance, No Sex, No Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 33,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24928360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueOfBrokenTime/pseuds/RogueOfBrokenTime
Summary: Join Jack on his journey as he makes his way towards the castle of Posmea, where an evil force is waiting for him! He'll make friends along the way, changing their lives for the better... but in the end, will he be the hero the land needs?
Series: The Prince of Puppets [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805509
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Prologue: The Legend of the Forgotten Kingdom

Once upon a time, there was a prospering kingdom called Posmea, with a beloved king and gracious queen who were loved by all. With their reign, they had brought the most peaceful era the land had ever known; and one day, when the people found out they were with child, the kingdom was filled with joy and celebration.

But not all fairytales can have a happy ending, can they?

—

When the queen was nearly ready to give birth, the pair sought out a powerful sorcerer to foresee their child’s fate. But instead of a message of prosperity or peace, they received a terrifying prophecy: that the greatest evil in all the land was to be born with their child. The king and queen grew troubled, for how could they love them and raise them in the palace as their own if they were destined to bring evil to their people?

The parents made a heart-wrenching choice; when their son was born, they would leave the child on a doorstep on the outskirts of the kingdom, in the hopes that maybe he would be taken in and that the prophecy could be altered if he weren’t raised as a prince.

And so, on that cold February night, it was done.

It has been said that the king and queen fled the kingdom forever that night, or that the two were killed by wild animals in the forest. No one in the kingdom knows what really happened to them, or if they or the child are still alive. But ever since that fateful night, every year on its anniversary, something strange happens…

Everyone in the kingdom rises from their sleep at midnight, stands rigid in the streets, and faces the palace in unison. Their eyes glow a bright, haunting septic green, as if some power has taken them over all at once.

None of them remember that this happens the following morning, as if the trance they had been in caused them to completely forget the trance itself.

As the years pass, more and more seems to be forgotten by the people. No one knows what their leader’s name is, just that there is one. No one cares to remember what day it is, since every say seems the same. No one even remembers the name of their kingdom anymore– they just call it “Home”.

No one ever comes. No one ever leaves. Time simply passes in its broken way, the year always resetting on that cold night in February.

However, there is one person in the kingdom who is immune to the green light. A boy raised on the outskirts of the kingdom, haunted by waking nightmares every year on his birthday, trying to convince everyone else that they’re not dreams at all.

A boy named Jack who will grow up to save his people, and the boy with whom our story begins.

—


	2. The Calling

I’m running. Running between all of them, trying to shake them awake.

_Please,_ I beg my mother and father, trying to yell as loud as I can in the silence. _Please, wake up!_

They don’t answer me. They stand still, their eyes fixed on the distant castle, refusing to even blink as the light consumes them.

Suddenly I’m a child again, tugging on their sleeves as tears run from my eyes. Then I’m an adolescent, staring from my window, too horrified to try to intervene. Then I’m me again, all grown up, just desperate for answers.

_Mother, Father,_ I try one more time, unable to move their rigid bodies even an inch from where they stand. _Please…_

As my knees begin to give out from under me, something strange suddenly surrounds me, sending chills up my back and making my skin crawl…

_Seán,_ a hollow, otherworldly voice whispers to me, echoing inside my head.

I fall to the ground, pressing my eyes closed tight and my hands to my ears–

“Jack!”

I sit bolt upright in my bed, breathing hard as the image fades from sight. My arms shake beneath me, and my heart is pounding in my chest. I shake my head a little and look up to see…

My mother, standing in my bedroom door.

“Jack, it’s time to wake up.”

I close my eyes again.

This has haunted me for my entire life. It wasn’t real this time, thank goodness– it’s not my birthday yet, anyway, so it can’t have been– but this one felt… different. Something spoke to me. I can still feel the shivers in my spine…

I have to know what this is.

I have to find the truth.

—

I stand still with the sun to my shoulders, my gaze fixed on the palace in the distance. I feel the day passing in its broken way around me– everyone in town going about their day the usual way, unquestioning of the fact that nothing ever changes here. Can I really be the only one bothered by it…? 

“Jack?” I hear my friend’s voice say behind me. “You’re doing it again.” 

“Do you ever feel it, Kris?” I sigh and ask him, already knowing what response I’ll get.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you ever think about how every day is the exact same?” I go on, finally turning around to face him. “How nothing ever changes here?”

Kris pauses, narrowing his eyes in thought but staying quiet.

I shake my head and drop my gaze to the ground. “… no, no one does.”

“Jack, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Kris, I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to think hard about your answer,” I tell him sternly, stepping closer to him. “Can you remember the day we first met?”

His lips curve into an odd smile. “Of… of course I…” 

His words and his grin fall away as he fails to finish his sentence, which answers my question. 

I blink once, twice. “You can’t do it, can you?”

Kris is probably my best friend, seeing as he’s really my only friend. We grew up just across the road from one another, though we didn’t meet properly until I was around ten years old. I still remember that day clearly, but I’m not sure how old that makes him…

“How old are you, Kris?“ I ask as the breeze buffets my coat.

“Pff, what kind of question is that? I…” I can see him struggle for a moment before he finishes. “I- I’m your age.”

“And how old am I, exactly?”

“Old enough to be having an existential crisis.” 

I huff and roll my eyes, walking past him towards my home again. “Ha ha. Wow, I’ve never heard that one before.” 

“Jack, c’mon,” he calls after me, catching back up to me. “You’re doing this more and more often now. What’s going on with you?”

I stop in my tracks and let out a sigh. "It's… it’s nothing.”

“Is this just because of those nightmares again?”

“They’re not–” I start, whipping around to face him, then I stop myself before I end up raising my voice in the middle of the street. “They’re not just nightmares, Kris. I know they’re not.”

I’ve told him about my nightmares a few times before, but he doesn’t believe me when I tell him they mean something more to me. He just knows them as the reason why I can never have a good night’s sleep, and the reason why I struggled to make any friends when I was younger– no one wanted to be seen with the weird nightmare kid, after all.

“That’s the thing about them, though,” he goes on, trying to talk sense into me. “It’s not like you can prove that, Jack. They’re just bad dreams.”

As he says the words to me, my eyes find the castle in the distance again, and suddenly I feel something new spark to life in my chest. Something that makes me feel whole…

“You know what?” I ask quietly, a smile starting to grow on my face. “That’s not a bad idea.”

I start walking backwards towards my home, my gaze still on the palace.

“Wait, what?” Kris calls after me again, confused. “What’s not a bad idea?”

“Proving that they mean something,” I tell him, my grin spreading. “In fact, I think that’s exactly what I was meant to do.”

Something in me resonates with this thought, like a light only I can see.

_Seán._

Without warning, my entire head echoes with the strange, hollow voice I heard in my sleep again. I stumble on my feet a little as it sends my mind spinning.

“Woah, Jack, are you… okay?” I hear Kris ask me, and his voice brings me back to my senses.

“Yeah, I…” I shake my head a little, running my hand through my hair. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

As he gives his response, my heartbeat suddenly pounds in my ears.

_Can you hear me, Seán?_ the voice goes on, a quiet whisper that itches at the back of my skull.

My head suddenly jerks up again, pointing my eyes to the castle on the horizon and not letting me look anywhere else, as if a hand is holding my chin in place.

It’s time you learned the truth…

“Jack?” I hear my friend try one more time, sounding nervous.

“Kris… I- I need to go,” I tell him unsteadily, my better words failing me.

“'Go’? Go where? You’re not making any sense.”

I don’t answer him.

Instead, I start running.

“Jack!”

I don’t stop.


	3. Hide and Seek

I’m not sure how long it takes me before I can bring myself to stop. As I do, I steady myself on my feet again and catch my breath while I try to figure out where exactly I am now…

A crowded open-air market lines the streets before me. I’ve never been here before. I must’ve come a bit closer to the nearest center of activity, which I realize now is quite the distance– according to my parents, nearly half a day’s travel on foot.

I shake my head. It feels like I got here so quickly– what happened? Thinking about it, I don’t even remember the journey here…

My eyes are drawn up to the castle again as the setting sun’s rays fall on my back.

What led me here…?

—

When I pull my gaze down again, out of the corner of my eye in the midst of the crowd, I catch something small and white disappearing beyond the edge of a display. I raise any eyebrow when suddenly–

“Sir?”

I turn down to where the voice of a stranger came from to see a man sitting on a blanket on the ground, giving me a confused look.

“Ah– sorry,” I stutter back, realizing I’m in the way of potential customers for what he’s selling.

I step away and nearly run into a small family. “Pardon me.”

Once I navigate myself to an area where I’m not blocking anybody or an obstacle, I stop to catch my breath again. I’m not used to being surrounded by so many people…

That’s when it hits me, just what exactly I’ve done. I’m half a day’s journey from home and I have little idea where I am. I’ve left my family behind without telling them where I’ve gone…

I turn slightly and look back in the direction I came from. Would it be worth it to go home and explain to my parents? I wouldn’t have enough time to get there before nightfall. They’ll be worried sick…

Then I see it again– a brush of white fur darting between the feet of the crowd, making its way across the road. It makes it to the side opposite where I’m standing, and I finally catch a glimpse of what it is…

It's… it’s a cat. It huddles close to the ground, trying to stay out of plain sight in the shade of the displays. Then it seems to notice me looking at it and gives me a long stare in return… then, before I can blink, it darts around the corner and vanishes.

I take a hesitant step forward, then another, then more until I turn the same corner. My eyes scan for the cat’s pointed ears among the stalls, but with all of these people here, I couldn’t hope to find them…

Without warning, something brushes up against my leg, and I start in place a little. Immediately I look down, and…

It’s the cat, suddenly looking up at me again. Up close, I can see that it has one green eye and one blue eye– they blink at me before the feline stands up again and dashes across the road from where I stand. 

I keep my eyes on it this time and manage to follow it much more easily from there. It gradually becomes a game of hide and seek as it weaves me through the streets in its path– it leads me from the market to the alleyways, from the alleyways to the roads dotted with shops, and from the shops to the streets of abandoned buildings that lay just beyond… 

I can’t help but stop, and the cat stops before me, as if we’ve reached our destination. Just before us is a squat building like any other, what looks to be a pawn shop of some sort that looks like it’s been empty for a long time. But something about this place seems unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been… I have a feeling that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Without warning, the cat suddenly darts away again to another alleyway across the road, and I’m too taken aback to follow this time. And then, just then, something strange happens… 

In the windows of the shop where curtains just were suddenly appear hanging charms, dream catchers, and gemstones. The lettering on the sign above the door change from “PAWN” to what look like a strange runic text I can’t understand. A tingle goes up my spine as the shift occurs.

My eyebrows shoot up, and one of my feet almost slips back a step. I start to wonder what secrets lie within, and what exactly this cat brought me here for…

Then, peeking out of the alleyway where I could’ve sworn I saw my feline companion disappear to, someone new peeks shyly out to greet me, and he’s… not a cat at all.

He has vibrant green hair, a fading dark blue shirt, a short black cape tied around his neck. And he’s… looking at me…

Then I look closer, and…

He has one green eye and one blue eye, and nestled in his hair are two snowy white ears.

_Cat_ ears.


	4. A New Friend

The boy slowly steps out fully, fiddling apprehensively with his fingers. Could this… could this boy really be the cat I followed here?

“H-hello,” he calls over to me, giving a small, awkward wave.

I try to shake off this strange feeling and finally go closer to him.

“Uh… hello,” I greet in return, unsure of what to say as I approach him. “Are you…?”

He nods before I finish, thankfully.

“The white cat? Yeah, that was me.” He faces down while he speaks, as if he’s anxious to make a lot of eye contact, then he looks back up with a small, nervous smile. “Uh… surprise?”

—

This is the first time I can get a good look at him. He’s clearly younger than me, maybe in his mid-to-late teens. And he’s slightly shorter than I am, but his ears make up for most of the difference when they’re fully upright– which they’re not right now, probably because he’s so nervous.

I can’t help letting out an awed sigh. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Marvin,” he tells me, one of his hands absentmindedly playing with the hair around one of his snowy ears.

“You're… you’re just a kid,” I shake my head a little and let a tiny laugh of wonder escape. “How did you…?”

“It's… kind of a long story,” Marvin answers, his fingers finding each other again, his face expressive as he informs me. “Well, I mean, not really, I guess. I’m a born shapeshift.”

My eyes widen a bit. “A shapeshift? I didn’t know those were real.”

“Most of us stay hidden pretty well nowadays,” he explains, then he lets out a small sheepish laugh. “I mean, except for me. I was born with these.”

He points to both of his ears, flicking each one for me.

“Naturally, I got outcasted pretty quickly when I was younger… even by my own parents when I was old enough,” he goes on, his eyes falling a little. Then he shakes his head. “But then I found this place. And now I’m studying up on some magic!”

I blink a few times as his words his me. “Magic? You mean, like… actual sorcery?”

Marvin nods, a little more excited this time. “Yep! I’m not a real sorcerer yet, just an apprentice, but… here, let me show you.”

He steps around me to the doorway, opening the front curtain eagerly when I pause him in the act.

“W-wait…” I stammer a little, still confused about one thing. “Why did you bring me here in the first place?”

He stops for a few moments, nervous again.

“Because… I think I can help you, Jack,” he tells me almost quietly, and immediately a realization hits me.

I take a cautious step back.

“Hey, wait a second…” I turn my head a little, apprehension creeping through me. “I… I never told you my name, Marvin.”

Both of his ears fold down a little, and his gaze falls away from mine.

“O-oh,” he stutters, not making eye contact with me again. “Oops. Heh.”

“How did you know it, then?” I press on, slightly afraid now.

“Because…” he tries, briefly keeping his face averted for a few more moments before looking back up. “Because I’ve been watching you.”

My eyebrows raise. _“Watching_ me?”

He nods sheepishly.

“How?” I follow up, shocked.

“It's… easier if I show you,” he tells me, taking my hand. “Come on!”

Without warning he pulls me with him past the dark curtain and into the shop, and instantly I sense a change, as if I just stepped through a portal of some kind.

In here there is no natural light from any windows or even the doorway I just came through, only a dim, cozy glow from flickering candles. On our right is a curtain like the one we just came through, which I’m guessing leads to another room in this place, and on our left is a wide open area with shelves and shelves of strange little items– hanging charms, colored glass phials, leather-bound books, stones and jewels that I can’t identify. Faint odd smells drift past every once in a while, and near the sconces on the wall I can see dust hanging in the air…

Across from us is a dark wooden door with what looks like a dream-catcher carved on its surface.

Shivers go down my spine, and my skin starts tingling a bit. I cross my arms.

“What is this place?” I ask Marvin quietly, getting the sense that this is not a place a normal person from the street should stumble into.

After a pause lasting a few moments, Marvin pulls me toward the next curtain doorway on our right. “Quick, hide behind here!”

“Uh… okay?” I stammer rapidly, tucking into the small dark room and holding myself against the wall.

Why did he–?

The sound of the far door opening, followed by heavy footsteps, cuts off my thought…


	5. A Deeper Mystery

I let out a tiny breath. Marvin must’ve heard someone coming…

A deep voice resounds from the space beyond.

“What is going– oh, Marvin?”

“Yes, sir?”

“I… my senses tell me that someone of great power has just entered this place. Do you know anything about this?”

“Someone of great power?”

“Yes, Marvin. Perhaps not someone bearing sorcery as we do, but a person whose spirit contains… a strange magic of its own.”

My eyes widen for no one to see. My… my spirit does _what?_

“Wait… I can still sense them. They… they responded to my words,” the deep voice goes on, speaking more to himself than to Marvin, I’m guessing.

Wait– _he could sense that I was shocked just now?_ I start backing away from the curtain as quietly as I can muster, until his final comment makes me freeze.

“Whoever you are, please, reveal yourself,” he calls out, seeming to know my general direction. “We mean you no harm. You have my truest word.”

I pause, then come to the conclusion that I don’t have much of a choice. I swallow nervously and tentatively pull the curtain back open to see…

Facing Marvin is a tall, dark-skinned man wearing a long cloak that’s belted around the waist and adorned with shimmering runic text I can’t understand. Upon seeing him, the voice I was going to use to introduce myself instantly falls away in reverence. It’s as if his very being emanates some sort of power… 

His eyebrows raise once he sees me, as if I give him some similar effect with my own presence. 

“So it is you indeed,” he says quietly to me, approaching me as if he already knows me somehow. “I would not have thought you would join us so soon, Jack.” 

His figure imposing above mine, I take a hesitant half-step backward and can’t help but stutter in response. “Who are you? H-how do you know my name?” 

Seeing my uneasiness, he shakes his head and steps back again. “Please, pardon my behavior. I am Prosperus the Radiant, and I believe you’ve already met my young protégé, Marvin.” 

I let out another small breath as the two share another glance with each other. 

“And… I believe we have much to share with you, Jack.” 

— 

I shake my head a little. All of this is making my mind spin in circles… 

“How… how did you know I’d come here?” 

“The two of us have foreseen many things about you,” Prosperus tells me, coming closer again and putting his hand on my shoulder. I can feel his magic tingling through to my skin, and the sensation gives me shivers down my spine. “However…”

He looks back at Marvin and raises an eyebrow, and the boy’s ears perk up for a moment.

“I do not recall giving you my permission to interfere with his journey in any way, Marvin.”

Instantly his ears flatten to his head and his gaze drops. “I-I’m sorry, sir, I… I didn’t think I’d actually find him.”

Prosperus sighs through his nose and turns back to me. “In any case, I would like to extend to you our most gracious welcome, Jack. You have come quite far, and yet your journey is only beginning.”

I shake my head a little. “My journey? How do you know I’m on a journey? I'm… I’m not even sure what led me here in the first place.”

He looks away and ponders for a moment before giving me an answer.

“I think it would be best if we showed you,” he tells me finally, nodding a bit towards the small room closed off beyond the curtain behind me.

Showed me…? I can only begin to wonder what that could mean before he leads me back there himself.

In the soft light, my eyes pick out what he must be talking about…

A small, round table with two chairs facing each other and a small crystal ball in its center.

My eyes widen, and Prosperus nods again, bidding me sit.

I take my seat on one side of the table, still a bit nervous and confused.

Marvin still hangs his head and wrings his hands, his ears pressed nearly flat against his hair with shame.

Prosperus looks at him and finally offers a bit of a smile.

“Marvin, why don’t you demonstrate for Jack?” he suggests, lifting his hand and stroking his chin a bit with a look of mischief in his eye.

Marvin quickly looks up to his teacher in surprise, his ears instantly perking up. “M-me?”

“Yes, you.” Prosperus takes a seat in a small chair in the corner of the room and folds his hands. “I will watch you from here. That way, I can see what you’ve learned, and should we come across an anomaly in the vision, I can step in and attempt to correct it.”

After a few moments, Marvin nods nervously and comes over to me. “Okay.”

He sits down and takes a few deep breaths, then slowly he lifts his hands above the crystal ball, closes his eyes, and focuses…

First it’s just a few flickers of light, but then a white glow starts forming in the center, growing, growing…

My eyes barely have time to widen before my sight is pulled in–

_I see myself on my way towards the castle, running as if my feet know their way there already by instinct alone. My image flickers in and out of view, but the background remains constant, as if I’m traveling faster than what should be possible… what is this?_

_For a few moments, I see myself stop and look up and around myself, finding that I’m at an open-air market I don’t recognize…_

_Suddenly, it hits me– was this today?_

In an instant, the sight is ripped away from my eyes again, which leaves me seeing spots and sends my head spinning with a sound that almost sounds like… laughter.

After my vision finally focuses again, I see that the other two in the room aren’t immune to the shock, either.

“Wha… what happened?” Marvin mumbles, trembling and pulling his hands back toward him, opening and closing his fingers a few times. “That's… that’s never happened before, it… it just cut off?”

Prosperus stands, a concerned expression shadowing his face.

“Here, Marvin,” he tells him, approaching. “Let me take your place. My senses tell me that this force may be dangerous– I don’t want risk you getting hurt.”

“So– so it wasn’t me?” Marvin asks, standing and letting his teacher sit across from me.

“No, my apprentice,” the master replies. “I do not doubt your abilities, but mine are still quite a bit stronger than yours. Perhaps I can override this strange force.”

Then he looks to me as if he just got an idea…

“Perhaps… perhaps your power could be of some help to us, Jack.”

I sit up a little in shock.

“Me? B-but…” I stumble, unsure of what to say. I didn’t know I’d have a part to play in all this. “But I’m not… I don't…”

“Jack,” Prosperus continues, his voice surprisingly calming to my nerves. “As Marvin has told you, the two of us have been watching you on your journey. Even from such a distance, I could sense that whatever power you carry– whether or not manifestable– is of incredible importance and potential. Whatever force is trying to intervene here, you may have the ability to counter it.”

This is all coming on so fast that I don’t even give myself any time to process it. Instead I let out a sigh, hoping I’ll be able to ask questions later. “What do I have to do?”

He blinks and holds his hand out to me, and I can see age worn into his palm. He says nothing, bidding me trust him.

I give him my own hand, and he takes it gently in his, then turns it so my palm faces the crystal and puts his other hand firmly over it.

He looks down and closes his eyes, and this time, instead of white light in the glass, a spark of baby blue appears and starts doing the same thing as before, pulling my eyes in–

_The same images as before begin to play, only this time they’re much clearer and more stable. I can only guess this is because of the master’s years of experience…_

_Me, walking through the streets, the white cat catching my eye, how I followed it all the way here, Marvin’s revealed transformation, how he pulled me inside…_

_Then we hit the point where the vision had flickered and died before. The same thing almost happens, but I can feel Prosperus fighting against it, and suddenly I’m there with him, using power I never knew I had…_

_The next scenes become blurry, and I can barely discern what’s happening… I can see myself walking in a place full of trees, a small white cat trotting alongside me… then, from nowhere, something flies through the air towards me and pierces a trunk just behind my head…_

_The figure who shot at me is hazy and dark, but I can tell they’re surprised that they missed–_

_Then I can feel myself being flung backward, backward, until there’s an image of the people of my street standing at attention to the distant castle, radiating green light from their irises–_

_Then the whole thing is suddenly swallowed by sickly smoke of the same color and a familiar voice that crackles in my ears–_

And then it’s all ripped away again, leaving me even more dizzy and even slightly drained on the inside as I blink my eyes open once more.

Prosperus breathes deeply as he comes out of it with me and slowly lets my hand go.

I find myself trying to steady my own breaths. “Wh… what happened?”

“I…” the master tells me, pressing his eyes closed for a few more moments. “I am not certain, Jack. For a few moments we were able to see the future, but then… something sent us far into the past, instead.”

He stands slowly, and I follow suit.

“I will need to think on this for some time,” he concludes, turning to his apprentice again. “Marvin, could you show Jack to the lower chambers while I attempt to decipher this?”

The boy nods quickly, sensing the importance. “Yes, sir.”


	6. Learning More

I drift between the bookshelves with Marvin as we make conversation while we wait for Prosperus to return.

“So…” I can’t help chuckling a little nervously as I ask. “What’s it like?”

He seems to know exactly what I’m curious about.

“Shifting? It’s something you get used to after a while, as odd as that sounds,” he answers, running his fingers over the spines. Then he lets out a bit of a laugh of his own. “Sometimes I go days at a time, even a week without being a person.”

“Really?” I raise my eyebrows in surprise, and he nods. “Why?”

He shrugs. “No particular reason. It’s the other way around sometimes, too.”

I let out a tiny breath. “All right, so, bit of an awkward question… if you were a cat right now, would it be weird if I pet you?”

He gives me a bit of a confused look, then smiles and shrugs a little.

“Actually, I don’t think so,” he explains, as if he’s never thought about it before. “When I’m a cat, a lot of my human instincts change into feline instincts. So it’d probably feel normal to me, not so much like a person petting another person, if that’s what you meant.”

For some reason, that information comes as a bit of a relief to me.

“Follow-up question,” I chance, unable to help being so intrigued. “Does all that fur feel the same way that hair does on your head, or…?”

“Not exactly,” he ponders, and I can see he’s almost… excited to tell me, as if he’s never had anyone to tell this all to. “It almost doesn’t feel like anything, just a lot of warmth all over. So… kinda like a cozy sweater that covers every part of you, I’d say.”

Another small smile creeps out from my face as I watch him shuffle around while he speaks, his snowy ears flicking now and then absentmindedly.

Suddenly, Prosperus comes down the stairs to find us, and we both stand on his arrival. He seems to bring with him the strange air I felt when I first entered this place, the one that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“Have you… have you found anything?” Marvin asks him nervously, playing with his fingers again and fidgeting on his toes.

Prosperus sighs. “After much thought, I believe I have. However…”

He turns to me.

“There is something I would like to speak to you about, Jack. Privately,” he tells me, and I can see that it’s a matter of utmost concern.

I nod. “Of course." 

—

He beckons me to the stairs with him, and I look back at Marvin and shrug one more time before following him.

He leads me up a second flight of stairs, towards a place in this haven where sunlight seems to actually exist…

We reach a new room that’s higher up than the rest of the building, maybe a tower of some sort– which is odd, because there is no such structure to be seen from the outside– and he lets me step in before him.

The room is circular, with shaped windows made of stained glass. A few more bookshelves line the walls, a couple of old-looking chests and trunks nestled in between. On the floor in the center is an ornate, patterned rug with symbols I don’t recognize. The main feature is a large dark wooden desk and a few chairs surrounding it…

"Have a seat, please, Jack,” Prosperus tells me, sitting in what looks like his own chair opposite me.

I do as he tells me, almost afraid to speak.

“I have been thinking about what we saw earlier today,” he begins, his dark eyes drifting. “And… I have found something I think you should know about.”

I nod a little. “Okay…?”

He takes a deep breath.

“Long ago, before you were born, this land was very different from the way it is now,” he tells me, his voice deep in an almost soothing way. “The old king and queen had no reason to fear for the prosperity of the kingdom… until they discovered that they were with child.”

I stay quiet. I haven’t heard this story before. Huh. Interesting…

“They went to a sorcerer to foresee their child’s fate,” he continues. “But instead of bearing good news, they were given a horrible prophecy– that the greatest evil in all the land would be born with their child.”

I raise my eyebrows. How have I not heard about this before?

“When their son was born, their hearts were torn– how could they love this child if he was destined for evil?” I get shivers up my spine as he recites this story. “It is said that in their panic, they left the child on a doorstep and fled. To where… the people still do not know.”

I sit back a little in my seat, shocked. “What… what happened to the child?”

“That… also remains unknown,” Prosperus says quietly, a bit of a sad tone creeping into his voice. “But since the night of the prince’s birth, a strange force has taken control of the land and all its people. I have been able to sense it for many years now.”

That’s so… odd-sounding, but for some reason, I don’t doubt him in the least.

“A strange force?”

“Yes,” he says firmly, finally looking at me. “And I believe it is this same force that intercepted our vision today.”

My eyebrows raise. “R-really?”

He nods gravely.

“And…” he adds, visibly battling his uncertainty. “And I also believe that this… this force, this entity, may be what is waiting for you at the end of your journey.”

My eyes slowly widen.

“For what purpose your meeting will be, I know not,” he finishes, taking one more breath before meeting my gaze again. “But I do know that your path will be dangerous, especially if traveled alone.”

Fear starts creeping up my back as I give my response. “I… I understand.”

He offers me one of his hands across the table, and I hesitantly take it.

He puts his other hand over it.

“Do not be afraid,” he tells me, and almost instantly his words have an effect. “We will not keep you here against your will. Should you choose to leave, we will not stop you. But, if you would like to stay with us a little longer, the two of us can attempt to help prepare you for what lies ahead of you.”

“You… you can help me?” A small glimmer happens in my chest as I realize what he’s saying.

Prosperus nods one more time.

“If you do meet this evil at the end of the path you tread,” he finishes with a strange confidence. “You will not only find the answers you seek, but you may end up freeing the land once and for all.”

I… I never knew this journey would hold so much importance.

“If you would like to spend the night here and think over this, you are welcome to stay as long as you need,” he tells me finally, bidding me stand with him. “There is room in the lower chambers for you, if you wish.”

“Thank you,” I answer after a small pause, my head still spinning a bit from learning about all of this. “It's… a lot to take in.”

We both approach the door once more, and he invites me to go down first.

As we descend again, I can’t help losing myself in thought…

If what Prosperus says is true, and there’s some evil force at play… is it possible that I’ll find it at the end of all of this?

A faint echo of a familiar laugh echoes in the back of my head as I finish the thought…

_I’ll be waiting, Seán._


	7. Darkness Falls

I follow Prosperus’ advice and head back down the winding staircase, finding that time has passed quite a bit since my ascent. It’s evening now, so it looks like I won’t be heading out again until morning at the earliest.

Quietly opening the door, I peek my head back into the library to see… a white cat, laying with his head on top of his front paws on top of a low shelf. His eyes are closed, but the tip of his tail is still just barely twitching– is he asleep?

I close the door as silently as I can behind me after stepping inside.

For some reason, I can’t take my eyes off him. This is my first time seeing him as a cat again since learning the truth about him– he doesn’t look out of place in the slightest.

I take a few cautious steps closer to him. I don’t mean to scare him, but I do want to try something…

—

Hesitantly I reach out my hand, then I gently place it on his head and start stroking him lightly.

After a few times, one of his ears flicks to tell me he’s awake– then my ears pick up a quiet purr coming from his throat, and I can’t help but smile.

Then he slowly starts blinking his eyes open, looking up to see me. He recognizes me after a few seconds and lifts his head.

I sheepishly pull my hand back and let out a bit of an awkward laugh. “Hey, Marv. Sorry to wake you.”

He doesn’t seemed bothered by it, though. After standing himself up and stretching out, he begins shaking himself out of his daze a bit, then he looks back up to me again and turns his head to one side as if to ask me how things went.

“It was… interesting,” I ponder, thinking about all Prosperus told me. “Definitely informational, if nothing else. But I think we still have more questions than we have answers.”

He drops his gaze for a moment, then nudges the back of my arm and pushes a little, as if he’s encouraging me to turn away…

“Oh, right, sorry,” I stumble, remembering how he doesn’t like having people watch him shift. I turn my back to him, even close my eyes out of habit.

I hear his pawsteps track down the length of the shelf behind me, along with a soft thud as he hops down to the floor…

Moments later I hear human breathing and the sounds of his hands brushing themselves off on his shirt.

I let out a tiny exhale of awe.

“Can I turn around yet?”

After a few more seconds of quick little noises, he answers. “Yep.”

I do as he says and see him again, this time as the boy I know. He opens and clenches his fingers repetitively, then runs his hands through his hair a few times and finally lets out a sigh.

“Sorry about that,” he tells me, a little embarrassed for some reason. He crosses his arms over his chest, releasing a little nervous laughter. “Some of us have no problem doing it in front of people, but for others, like me, it kinda feels like they’re watching me change clothes or something.”

“No, no, I get it, now that you put it that way,” I try to assure him.

He lets out a big breath and scratches the back of his head.

“More questions than answers, huh?” he asks, and I nod.

“Yeah. And… he told me that the two of you can help prepare me for the rest of my journey, somehow?" 

This time, Marvin nods to me. “You must be staying with us for a day or so at least, then. There’s… a lot to take in.” 

“You’re telling me,” I reply, with a bit of a chuckle under my breath. 

“First, though, we need to get you settled in,” he tells me, meeting my eyes with a bit of a smile. “You came a long way in just one day. You must be tired, no?”

Suddenly it hits me just how long I’ve gone without rest today. The more I think about it, the more the way that time has passed today just doesn’t make sense to me. I blink wearily, realizing I’m suppressing a yawn. 

“Here,” the boy says, turning me towards the wall. “Follow me.”

Marvin leads me to a tall bookcase that doesn’t look any more conspicuous than the others, then runs his fingers over the spines until he stops on a particular red tome.

He pulls it out, and the whole shelf begins to gently swing inward…

I smile a little. A secret door– how could I expect anything less in a place like this? 

"This is my little area of the place,” he tells me, leading me in. 

It’s nothing grand like Prosperus’ tower, but it’s cozy– a chest in the corner, a shelf against the wall with books and trinkets I’d imagine are his. A nightstand with a small candle-lit lamp sits next to the neatly-made bed, and there’s a window near the ceiling to let in natural light. 

The boy looks up to me. “You can sleep in here, if you’d like." 

I raise my eyebrows, almost shocked. "I can’t take your bed, Marv. Where would you sleep?" 

He shrugs a little. "I don’t use the bed all that much. I do most of my sleeping as a cat– I can curl up just about anywhere.”

Looking at it again, I see that he’s not wrong; the bed hardly even looks touched.

Stepping in before me, Marvin goes to his nightstand and opens the drawer, pulling something out carefully that catches my eye. 

“What’s that?” I ask, approaching him from behind. 

He shows me, holding it delicately and letting me get a closer look. “A dream catcher. It’ll protect you from nightmares, once I hang it up.”

Between the two small wooden rings is twine, tightly strung in intricate patterns with beads and other small tokens woven through the empty spaces. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before… just looking at it, I feel its strange power protecting me. 

“Now,” Marvin finishes, hanging it on a small hook on the wall beside the headboard, then looking back to me. “Let’s get you some rest, Jack.” 

—

Before I know it, I’m in bed and can barely keep my eyes open, even though I’m who-knows-how-far from home. 

But, just as I’m about to drift off, that’s when it happens…

A whisper in the back of my mind sends paralyzing chills up my spine. 

_Can you hear me, Seán?_

I can’t move, only press my eyes closed tighter. What is this voice? And why does it always call me by that strange name?

_Go ahead. Try to fall asleep…_

The voice’s broken laughter echoes in my ears as a tight sensation suddenly comes up against my neck, as if a blade is being held to my skin… 

_You can’t do it, can you?_

Suddenly, it’s hard to breathe. It feels like a hand is cupped over my mouth, preventing any ability to cry for help. I struggle, but I can’t move my body…

The sickly, septic green smoke rages like a storm through my mind, blurring the lines between real and imaginary…

I can hear the voice chuckling to itself. 

_See you soon, Seán._

And with a snap, the entire sensation vanishes, leaving me breathing hard and my throat feeling raw. 

I immediately sit up in bed once I’m able. Shaking, I find myself raising my hand to my neck to make sure there isn’t a cut… 

My gaze falls on the dream catcher again. Wait… wasn’t it supposed to protect me from any nightmares? 

As my tired eyes stare at it glinting in the moonlight from the window, the only answer pounds in my mind like a false heartbeat. 

…

_It wasn’t a dream._


	8. Exploring the Unknown

Sitting across from Marvin at his desk, I watch as he studies his book. It’s written in a language I can’t even begin to decipher. I let out a small breath, continuously awed.

“Would it be weird if I asked you what you’ve learned?” I try to ask him, almost hesitant because magic is a subject I know so little about.

One of his ears perks as he looks up to me again from his book with a curious grin on his face. “Can I ask why you’d like to know?”

I let out a bit of a nervous laugh and run a hand through my hair as I answer.

“I… I dunno, really,” I say, my eyes falling a little to my side, to the stacks of countless books in mythic languages I could never hope to understand. “Just… all of this, it’s been making my head spin since I got here. I guess… I guess that a part of me just wants to know what’s actually possible, y'know?”

Marvin sets his book down on the table and nudges it aside, his smile growing and his eyes glimmering.

“That, I think I can help you with, Jack,” he answers a bit quieter, his bright gaze right in mine. “In that, there are more things than you can dream of.”

—

“Sorcery is only one of a few different branches of magic,” Marvin begins, leading me through the shelves. “There are actually a couple of other varieties a person can study.”

My eyebrows furrow a little at this. “Wait, really? You’re telling me sorcery isn’t the only magic?”

“Mhm,” he answers, his ear flicking thoughtfully. “There’s sorcery, which is what I study, then there’s elemental magic, temporal magic, and show magic.”

“Huh,” I let out. I would have never guessed. “What’s the difference?”

“Well, elemental magic, you can probably guess, has to deal with the elements. Earth, air, fire, water– elemental covers them all. Really powerful mages in that area can sometimes become strong enough to control the weather, but those are few and far between,” he explains, his eyes still searching for a book in the stacks. “Temporal magic, on the other hand, is extremely difficult to master because it involves manipulating time itself. There hasn’t been a renowned practicioner of that for a long time now, probably because there’s so many intricacies and doing one wrong thing can have… pretty grave mistakes.”

Hearing this shocks me a bit. I can’t help but wonder how many have been lost in the fabric of time that way…

“Show magic is the simplest form, and the easiest to learn as well. Whenever you see traveling magicians perform for crowds, that’s what they use– if they’re not only pretending, that is,” he goes on, taking a big breath before he finishes. “And then there’s sorcery. Perhaps the oldest of all four varieties– it originates in the soul of its user, and it’s derived from the balance between all things. The more in-tune with your own spirit you are, the more connected you become to all things, and the easier it will be to allow yourself to manipulate the physical around that.”

My wide eyes fall a little. “Woah, that's… a lot more intense than I thought.”

“But that’s the thing about sorcery– when put into practice, it isn’t incredibly difficult or ‘intense’. It just requires more focus from your inner self and the spirit, whereas, say, elemental magic requires more effort from the mind and body,” he tells me effortlessly, as if talking about these things is just completely normal. “That’s why sorcery spans over so much– transforming things from one shape to another, animating the inanimate, even things like death itself can be approached by the most powerful sorcerers.”

I let out a breath of awe. “Wow.”

We stop our wandering beside a small table nestled against the wall, covered in variously-colored phials.

“So…” I ponder, curiously eyeing them all on the table before me, but too hesitant to pick any up. “What are these?”

“Hm? Oh, those?” Marvin replies, taking his mind from his book again and leading me forward a bit closer. “They're… a lot of things, actually. I wouldn’t quite call them 'potions’ or anything, because in reality they’re much more than that.”

He bends down and starts picking through them, sorting them by size, color, and what tiny symbols they have marked on the sides.

“Do… do they all do different things?” I ask, and he nods without saying anything. I raise my eyebrows a bit. “Like what?”

Once he’s finished separating them, he stands back up, lets out an exhale, and explains.

“The thing with these is that they’re not exactly something you 'drink’ or 'consume’, per se– once you take one, it goes directly to the spirit, not the body,” he tells me engagingly. “What it does from there depends on which one you took– but there are a couple of different varieties here…”

He picks up one from a collection of clear phials holding what looks just like transparent water on the inside.

“This one here’s a restorative,” he tells me, turning it a little in his fingers. “If someone is seriously hurt or sick, give them this and in a few minutes they’ll be all patched up and good as new. A little bit goes a long way.”

My eyes can’t help but widen a little. All of that ability, hiding in a few simple droplets? Wow…

Marv moves along to the darker-colored translucent phials.

“These ones have certain effects on the mind, and they really vary in strength,” he goes on, pointing to a few of them as he speaks. “This one will put whoever drinks it to sleep for a few hours and induces vivid dreams. These two here establish a temporary telepathic connection between the two who drink them until they let it wear off. And this one allows its consumer to bear another person’s pain in their place– be it physical, mental, emotional. Some mind-blowing stuff really, when you think about it.”

I let out a tiny awed breath. I’m speechless– all of these were things I never thought possible, and here I am, looking at creations which allow all of them to become true.

Unfazed by my baffled expression, the cat-eared boy looks to the final group of phials– these ones more vibrant-colored.

“And these here all induce temporary physical effects,” he finishes, letting out a bit of a sigh. “None of them work on me, since I’m a shapeshift and all, but they’re much less dangerous than actual transformations, even though they look exactly the same in effect. They’re basically emergency disguises.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Disguises– wait, did you say transformations?”

“Yep.”

I can’t help but let out a tiny breath at that.

I nod at the phials again and cross my arms. “So what do each of those do?”

He goes through them quickly and points as he names each one. “Cat, dog, bird, fish, rodent, reptile, insect, and predator– when it comes to variety, that’s something the soul decides on in the moment, unless the user has had practice choosing on their own. And these ones here turn you into something based on your immediate surroundings. So, say you’re in a forest– you might become a squirrel, or a deer, or a rabbit. Or if you’re traveling the roads at night and you approach a threat, you might become a tiny mouse so you can hide in the bushes, maybe an unassuming bird that can watch from the safety of the trees. That kind of thing.”

“Man, that's… amazing.” I shake my head a little as he finishes, almost unable to believe it.

He smiles back at me. “Y'know, I’ve never had anyone to explain all of this to before. It's… nice.”

My eyes slightly widened, I give him a reassuring nod. “The actual concepts of this stuff may go over my head, but you make a pretty good teacher, Marv.”

His face gets a little red with embarrassment, his initial nervousness starting to come back. “Y-you really think so?”

I smile and nod again, but before I can say anything else, the door at the far end of the room opens once more, and Prosperus enters.

The two of us turn to him, and I can tell from the look on his face that he sees me differently than he did a day or so ago when I got here. I’ve learned a lot since then.

“Jack,” he tells me as we approach, looking at both of us in turn with a glimmer in his eye. “I believe it is time.”


	9. Setting Out

I stand by the door to the outside world, feeling as prepared as I’ll ever be.

Then I turn back around and face the two of them. Prosperus stands tall and sure, while Marvin’s ears are drooping with sadness to see me go…

Prosperus looks to me with a small smile hidden on his face, and I nod back.

“Marvin,” he says, and the boy looks up obediently.

“Yes, sir?”

“A few days ago when Jack first came to us, we saw another vision,” he informs his protégé. “One that contained a glimpse of the future.”

Marvin’s ears fold down a little apprehensively. “Okay…?”

Prosperus’s grin grows a little.

“We saw him traveling through the forest,” he goes on. “And there was someone walking alongside him. Can you, perhaps, guess who it was?”

The boy narrows his eyes, confused, then he shakes his head. “No, sir.”

I laugh a little. “It was you, Marv!”

His eyebrows shoot up at the same time his ears do. “M-me?”

“Yes, you.” The master gently nudges him, and the apprentice meets his gaze.

“B-but…” Marvin stammers, as if there’s a chance he was just caught trying to sneak out after me once I left.

“Do not worry, my apprentice,” the sorcerer tells him in a chuckle. “I am not mad. In fact… I think it would be a good learning experience for you to join him.”

Prosperus gives him a playful, almost-fatherly rub on his hair between his ears, and Marvin finally lets out a small giggle of his own as he fixes it again.

“Besides, it would be foolish to try and stop you when it has already been foretold,” he finishes.

All the boy can do is give another small, sheepish laugh. “… heh.”

—

Side by side now, Marvin and I stand and pay attention as Prosperus gives us our last advice.

“The way northward, towards the castle, is unsafe if traveled through the populated area, as it is riddled with crime and theft,” he tells us, nodding at the satchel slung over Marvin’s shoulder. “Some contents in your satchel could be especially dangerous, if fallen into the wrong hands.”

“What way do you think we should go, then?” I ask, not having taken those details into account before I ever left.

“Make your way westward, until you reach the forest,” he replies. “Then continue north once you arrive there. There are a few bandits and rogues known to live in the forest, but the risk that you will run into any is far less than the risk you run if you head through town.”

As he speaks, Marvin digs through his satchel one more time– the sounds of clanking phials and crumpled paper tells me that there’s more space in there than there looks to be– and finally pulls out a soft grey winter hat.

I raise an eyebrow before realizing what he’s doing.

Carefully he slips it on his head, tucking his ears in gently and making sure they don’t poke out at unnatural angles from beneath the fabric, until there isn’t the slightest inclination that the beanie is hiding anything.

He catches my eye once he’s finished, and his gaze falls a little. “Not everyone takes too kindly to… y'know, people like me, so it’s best if I…”

His words fall off before he finishes, but he doesn’t need to. I can only imagine what he must’ve gone through when he was younger, being rejected by his parents…

Then he lets out a decisive breath and turns back to his mentor. “Anything else we need to know?”

Prosperus approaches both of us and extends one hand out to each of us.

“I bid you, pray be safe in your travels,” he tells us, meeting both of our gazes in turn. “I know little of this journey that you are setting out upon, but I do know that it holds untold importance. Not only for each of you, but for the entire kingdom.”

We both nod. “Yes, sir.”

And with one more goodbye, Marvin and I set out into the great unknown.

—

Over the course of the morning and early afternoon, we make our way westward, towards the woods. We make light conversation along the way, trying not to catch the attention of too many merchants or fellow travelers. Luckily, we aren’t stopped on our way.

By the time we make it to the edge of the forest, it’s mid-afternoon. Carefully we make our way through the winding pathways in the trees, allowing ourselves to have more serious conversation.

“So…” Marvin begins hesitantly, his hands absentmindedly gripping the strap of his satchel. “What exactly possessed you to start this journey in the first place?”

I sigh a little. “Promise you won’t think I’m crazy?”

He lets out a small laugh. “You’re talking to an apprentice sorcerer. There isn’t much that I think is ‘crazy’, Jack.”

I look over both of my shoulders, then let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “I… I heard a voice.”

“A voice in your head?”

I nod a little. “It keeps… talking to me, and calling me by a strange name. I… I have waking nightmares once a year where everyone I know rises from their beds at midnight and goes outside to face the castle, and their eyes glow green. This voice… I swear it’s got something to do with–”

_Fwip!_

I start in place, hearing the unmistakable sound of an arrow piercing a tree trunk behind me.

I slowly turn around to see… exactly that, and not far over the ridge we just crossed, a figure in the shadows.

This suddenly seems very familiar…

That’s when it clicks with me. This scene, in the forest with Marvin at my side, with a single arrow having been shot in our direction– Prosperus and I saw this in the crystal ball.

The figure in the trees lowers what looks to be a crossbow and hesitantly steps closer, rubbing his eyes with one hand as if he’d been led on by some kind of illusion.

“You’re no deer,” I hear him say to himself in confusion.

Before I have the chance to say anything to him, he quickly raises his weapon again. I tuck Marvin behind me in case he’s got any more arrows…

“Wh- who are you!?” he demands, shifting his weapon’s aim between both of us. “This is _my_ territory! Tell me who you are, or I'll– I’ll shoot!”

He’s close enough now for me to see that he hasn’t got any more ammunition.

Still, I raise my hands slowly as he approaches. “We’re sorry, sir. We’re just travelers passing through, we’ll leave if you want…”

I can suddenly see the fear in his eyes and the shakiness in his arms, as if he’s flat-out terrified.

“… sir?” I risk, taking a half-step closer and lowering my arms slightly. “Are… are you all right?”

Seeing that I have no intention of hurting him, he slowly lowers his crossbow, and I finally get the chance to see him for who he is.

He’s got yellowish hair coming out of a loose red cap, innocent blue eyes, a worn grey shirt that he looks like he hasn’t changed in a while. His dirty, dark boots tell me he’s well-traveled in these woods, and the arrow sheath strapped around his shoulder is empty. He’s got an old scar running across his neck. He looks older than Marvin, but younger than me…

“Y-you’re not here to hurt me?” he asks, still a bit fearful of us.

“No, sir,” I try to tell him reassuringly. “I’m Jack, and this is Marvin. We’re just traveling, and… we could use the help of someone like you, actually.”

“R-really?”

“Yes,” I go on, somehow feeling like I can trust him. “If… if you could let us stay with you just one night and help us pass through safely, we’ll be out of the forest tomorrow morning.”

He finally comes up to us, dropping his weapon on the ground.

“Normally I wouldn’t, but… I feel like I might be able to help you. I haven’t seen you around these parts before,” he answers carefully, looking at each of us. “And… maybe the two of you can help me?”

I nod. “Of course.”

After a moment’s pause, he extends his hand to me, and I take it.

“Sorry for coming on so strongly. I swear I was… I was hunting a deer, and then suddenly it was the two of you.”

“It’s alright, ah…” I realize he’s never told us his name.

“Chase,” he tells us finally, his eyes holding more to his story than I can even imagine. “Chase Brody.”


	10. Scars

As night falls, Chase, Marvin and I sit around a small fire at Chase’s camp. He tends it carefully, his blue eyes glimmering as the flames dance gently before him.

My gaze can’t help but be drawn to the scar on his neck again. At first I thought it was an old wound, but now that I’m closer, I can see that it was treated not incredibly long ago and that Chase still rubs at it as if it bothers him.

He sighs a little bit as he sits back on his knees and looks up to us.

“So where are you two headed?” he asks, making conversation.

“Towards the inner district,” I answer, trying not to give too much away. “Going through the forest is safer than trying to make it through the streets unscathed.”

“Y'know, you’re lucky,” the huntsman tells us, settling into his spot by the fire. “Not everyone in these woods would have let you pass through with your life. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins here, and I still have scars from them.”

After a pause, I nod a little to him, looking at his neck. “Is that how you got that one?”

He huffs a little and shakes his head, his eyes dropping to the ground.

“No, this one… this one hurt me more than all of the others combined." 

—

"What happened?” Marvin asks, inching closer to Chase as if to observe the wound more closely.

He sighs.

“It… it was a fight I got into at the tavern. I’m not proud of it,” he tells us, shame in his voice. “In all honesty, I don’t remember how it went down. I was drunk, the other fella had a knife, and…”

My eyebrows raise a little.

“But the reason why it hurt me so much wasn’t because of the blade,” Chase continues. “I was at the tavern in the first place because my wife Stacy and I had an argument beforehand. When she saw me, bloody and stumbling drunk, she… she wouldn’t let me come home. I was… distraught, to say the least. How could I let our kids see me like that?”

My eyes widen slightly– he’s so young, but he's… a father?

“Anyway, after that, I remember wandering the streets that night until I collapsed in front of a stranger’s house and blacked out. Gods know how much blood I must’ve lost,” he finishes, his voice low with disgrace. Then he shakes his head a little. “But I still thank the stars that I collapsed in front of the house of an apothecary. I don’t know if I’d be here if I hadn’t.”

“An apothecary?” Marvin asks, his eyes wide with curiosity.

“Mhm,” Chase answers, a small, sad smile on his face. “He’s a strange one, but I owe him my life. He took me in and patched me up, good as new… well, almost good as new. I’ve still got the scar.”

A pause of silence hangs in the air briefly, until I break it.

“So what are you doing out here?” I ask him, a bit confused. “Doesn’t your family need you?”

Chase’s gaze falls again.

“They seem to get along just fine without me,” he answers quietly, not looking up. “And… as much as I’ve forgotten about that night at the tavern, I’ll never forget the look on Stacy’s face when I tried to come home that night. She was… disgusted, afraid, repulsed at me. Honestly, I bet she’s happier now that I’m gone.”

“Chase…” I let out, my eyebrows furrowing with worry. “You know that can’t be true. Why would she be happy to see you go?”

“I… I dunno,” he answers, still not meeting my eyes. “Because she probably thinks of me as a drunken mess now. I don’t belong near our kids like that.”

“But… you’ve recuperated,” Marv puts in, absentmindedly adjusting his beanie. “And surely you must’ve learned your lesson after that night at the tavern?”

Chase huffs and finally looks up, revealing a tear running down his cheek. “Gods know I have.”

“Then go back to them,” I finish, trying to be as reassuring as I can. “You’re a family. They need their father around.”

After catching his breath, the huntsman nods a little. “Y-you really think so?”

“I know so.”

Rubbing his face with his hands, he lets out one more big exhale and looks back up, to both of us. “Th-thank you.”

—

After the night passes, we rise just before dawn, preparing for the next steps of our journey.

“So why are you two headed for the central district?” Chase asks as we help him pack up his camp.

“It's… a long story,” I answer hesitantly. As much as I trust him now, I don’t know what he’ll think of my reasons…

“We’ve got time.”

I sigh a little, choosing my words carefully. “I… I have waking nightmares. And… they keep pointing me towards the castle, as if I’m supposed to go there.”

“That sounds awful,” he tells me, his eyes full of concern. “The nightmare part, I mean.”

I shake my head. “I’m used to those by now, but… it’s not just that. Everyone back home doesn’t believe me when I try to tell them I think something’s wrong. I’m the only one who sees the green light. I set out on this journey to… to try to prove I’m not crazy, I guess.”

At this, he pauses.

“Let me guess,” I say with resignation in my voice. “You think I’m crazy now, too?”

Chase shakes his head. “No, I…”

He meets my gaze with wide eyes.

“I think I know someone who might be able to help you,” he tells me quickly. “The apothecary who took me in when I was wounded– I overheard him studying sometimes. He was always mumbling about some… some green light.”

Marvin and I exchange a quick glance, and my eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Do… do you think you could help us find him?” I ask shakily.

Chase nods. “His house– it isn’t too far from the eastern border of the forest. He might know something that could be useful to you on your journey. Would… would you like me to guide you there?”

I stand frozen, only able to make myself nod ever so slightly. I’ve never thought this was possible– does someone else know the same fear I do?

“I… I’d like that,” I answer, still in shock. “I’d like that very much.”


	11. It's Not Madness

Marvin and I stand side by side outside the strange door of the strange house. What kind of man might live here, I'm… not entirely certain, but, if he can help us…

I turn to my companion. “Ready?”

He pulls the grey beanie a little tighter over his head, making sure to cover up where human ears would be. “Whenever you are.”

With one more breath, I lift my hand and knock a few times.

Silence follows for a couple of seconds, and I start to think no one’s home when–

_“Who is out there!?”_ a jarring, raspy voice calls out, making both of us start.

Too shocked to think of an answer, another shout shakes me again.

“I am warning you, Henrik von Schneeplestein is afraid of no man!”

My eyebrows go up at his name. This is the guy Chase was telling us about?

I nudge Marvin a little bit behind me as I muster up some kind of response.

“Uh…” I begin, trying to think of something. “We don’t mean you any harm, sir! We were sent here by Chase Brody, can you help us?”

I hear scrambling footsteps rapidly approach the door from the other side.

Suddenly it opens just a crack, and I can just start to make out a face…

“Why should I trust you?” the voice says again to me, much closer and quieter this time. “How do you know Chase Brody?”

“Well, uh…” I stumble a little, trying to think of a way to explain the situation to this foreign stranger. “You see, we’re on, uh, a journey of sorts, and–”

“I have no time for this,” the man cuts me off, shutting the door again. “Goodbye.”

“Wait–” I mumble at first, then I let out a breath of desperation and say the only thing I can think of. “He told me you know about the green light!”

A weird feeling settles in my chest, as if I just revealed a huge secret of some kind for no good reason.

But… after a few moments, the door cracks open again, much slower this time.

“He told you… what?” the man’s voice murmurs to me, much calmer now.

I take one more nervous breath.

“Chase told me that you could tell me more about the green light,” I repeat, trying to find his gaze somewhere and quickly giving up. “The light that appears in everyone’s eyes once a year. He told me you could help us. Please, sir. It's… very important.”

After another small pause, the door slowly creaks open, and the man beyond it finally reveals himself to the sunlight…

He’s an older-looking, pale man with bluish-grey bloodshot eyes and strange hair that looks drained of most of the color it once had. Over his extremely faded clothes, he wears a long white coat that nearly matches the pigment of his skin.

“You…” he asks, almost silent with what I’m guessing is awe now. “You know about the light? You are… aware of it?”

I nod, and Marvin nods as well.

The man before us releases the door and lets it swing open wide, looking at both of us with an apologetic gaze.

“My friends, I am most sorry for doubting you,” he tells us both, now completely and utterly serious. “My name is Henrik von Schneeplestein. Please, come in. I will share with you everything that I know." 

—

"You… you must allow me to apologize for the mess,” the apothecary tells us shakily as he leads us inside. “I have not had visitors in quite some time.”

The smell of the place hits me before anything else– so many different scents are clashing that I can’t pick out a single one. It makes me want to rub my eyes, and I catch Marvin doing just that. It’s warm and stagnant in here, as if there are no windows or fresh air to be had. Between blinks, I see that there are leather-bound books and misplaced pieces of paper scattered everywhere, and on a counter behind us, there are miscellaneous phials and jars of various herbs and substances that I can’t even begin to name.

The living area off to the side consists of a small sofa and a few chairs, with a short-standing table in the center. A hallway leads back further into the home, but I don’t need to see the rest of it to know that it’s in similar condition.

This man… he hasn’t left his house in a long time.

“Please, sit if you would like,” Henrik invites us, and after a quick glance at Marvin to make sure he’s alright, I hesitantly sit on the sofa, and he joins me.

Schneeplestein takes a chair across from us, more scared of us than we are of him.

“I did not catch your names?”

“Oh, ah, sorry,” I stutter, realizing we never told him. “I’m Jack, and this here is Marvin.”

“Jack, Marvin,” he repeats to himself quietly, then nods. “It is a pleasure.”

After a small pause, he takes one more breath, tugging at his coat’s sleeves as if to make sure they’re hiding his wrists. I raise an eyebrow slightly, but say nothing.

“So, you say… you say that you know of the green light?” he asks, crossing his arms nervously and looking at me with hesitant eyes.

“I do,” I answer quietly. “I’ve seen it firsthand.”

“Can… can you describe it for me, Jack? Leave no detail unsaid.”

I drop my gaze for a moment, then close my eyes, bringing the scene back to life in my mind.

After one more breath, I begin.

I tell him everything. I tell him how everyone I know and love rises from their beds at midnight, only to walk out to the streets and face the distant castle. I tell him how I’ve run to them, to all of them, begging them to wake up from their trance. I tell him how my body seems to change its age in the process depending on who I’m speaking to, as if it’s all part of some pre-orchestrated nightmare. I tell him how the entire kingdom glows with the septic green light once a year, and how it makes me sick to my stomach.

When I’m finished, I blink my eyes open again to find that I’m doubled over and my arms are crossed over my chest.

I slowly make myself look up once more, and I see it in Henrik’s eyes that he knows.

“Jack…” he finally says to me, standing and coming closer and helping me rise with him. “I believe we have much to learn from one another.”

His hand still on my shoulder, he drops his gaze and sighs.

“But… you have told me your story,” he finishes, closing his eyes briefly. “Now it is time that I tell you mine.”

—

“I… I am afraid that my past is not one I am proud of.”

The doctor sits quietly, closing his eyes, trying to keep his jittering fingers still as he speaks.

“I wanted to become an apothecary to help people, to save them,” he begins, not looking at either of us. “But death has… always seemed to follow me.

"I learned from my superior as a young man, not unlike yourselves. I was a hard worker, writing down everything I could about the practice. So eager was I to begin my work that I finished my apprenticeship as quickly as I could. I became the youngest in the field.

"For the first few years on my own, I was getting on just fine. Mistakes not tolerated, every patient treated with respect, no matter what walk of life they came from. Hah… I was known around here as ze good doctah, believe it or not.

"But then… one night, I was with a patient named Peter, and it was late… I was preparing an antidote, but I had mistaken ze name of one ingredient for another. I knew I had made a mistake, for this combination creates not a cure for such an ailment as my patient had, but a poison that could kill a man upon consumption. And yet… something in me told me to give it to him, despite this.

"I still do not know what strange calm came over me that evening. All I know is… as I watched Peter drink, and then struggle, and then die… I looked upon it not with remorse or with fear, but with… fascination. Here before me was something that cannot be taught from books or superiors– ze great mystery known as death.

"And yet, moments later, I snapped out of it and realized what I had done. I had taken the life of an innocent in my own negligence… to zis day, I am still haunted by such a grave mistake.”

Henrik catches his breath, clenching his fists and releasing them to stay calm.

“From that day forward, I no longer trusted myself. My goal was to help and save– not to bring death upon the undeserving. But still… this fascination yet tugged on me, waiting for me to succumb to it once again. Without knowing it I began giving in more and more frequently, until one day, years after the first mistake… someone called me a madman, and I realized they were correct. I was not… myself anymore.

"Ever since, I have kept myself away from people under lock and key, for their own good and for mine. I became disconnected from society, unable to sate my mind’s craving for knowledge… until one day I was stumbled upon by my now good friend, Chase Brody. He was such a mess when he collapsed at my doorstep. I… I couldn’t not take him in and treat his wounds.”

He covers his eyes with shaky fingers.

“So… I have taken the lives of innumerable innocent people– not by any fault of my own, but… the blood is still on my hands. I understand if you decide not to trust me,” he finishes quietly, looking up to us with a guilt-ridden gaze. “But… I am aware of this green light, the same as you, Jack. If you choose to stay and hear my story, I believe there is much we can share with one another.”

I’m not sure what to say as I take this all in. This man has killed people by his own hands, yet…

I meet his eyes, and in them, I see him begging for me to believe him.

Suddenly, I realize.

It’s just like the trance of the green eyes. He couldn’t wake himself up from it in those moments. He’d been… controlled by something else entirely, something that wanted to paint him as a madman.

It… none of this was his fault.

He’s not crazy, just like I’m not crazy.

I nod a little to him.

“Henrik… I trust you,” I tell him carefully, seeing his overtired eyes lighten with joy at the words.

He almost looks like he’s about to cry with relief that someone believes him.

“Th-thank you, Jack. That… means more to me than you know.”


	12. Believing is Seeing

“So… you can tell us more about the green light?” I ask Henrik hopefully.

He nods as the subject arrives.

“Ah, yes, indeed I can,” he answers, becoming more serious again. “But time is of the essence, my friends. If my calculations are correct, it will be returning to us, and very soon.”

He quickly stands and rushes off to the corner of the room, bringing a stack of worn leather-bound journals with loose pages back to the table for us.

“What are these?” Marvin asks as he picks one up cautiously.

“My research,” the apothecary tells him, giving one to me as well. “I… I have been working on it for some time now. These journals contain all I have gathered about this… this green light." 

—

My eyes narrow, then widen as I read his notes. They’re much more extensive and detailed than I expected, shakily written as they are…

Rough diagrams of human eyes. Words scribbled in hands from simple, neat print to letters that stumble and bleed entirely into other lines and drawings, some adorned with strange symbols above and below that later entries state he doesn’t remember putting there. Stains of various colors stiffen the pages, spilled remains of who knows what…

Sitting beside me, Henrik takes the journal from me and turns to an entry marked with a folded corner, the wear on the edges telling me he’s opened to this one quite a few times.

A clock and a calendar are sketched in, the lines dark and heavy as if it’s been re-drawn more than once. A date is signed in the corner– 7/2/??. The handwriting here is so small that I can’t make it out from over his shoulder.

He lets out a small breath and opens the pages a bit wider, revealing something new in the light:

Strange green marks suddenly surround his work on the paper in smoke-like patterns, a familiar shade that makes me sick to my stomach…

My eyes widen.

"That's…” I murmur, and the apothecary nods.

“Indeed,” he answers quietly. “The unmistakable signature of whatever force is responsible. I… I haven’t the faintest idea of how it found me and my work, but… this told me that I was on the right track, or at least, that my work was not utter madness.”

Looking closer, I can just pick out a small excerpt on the bottom of the page…

_"It can’t be madness. Something is… very wrong here. I can feel it in my bones. It has been happening for so long that I feel I am the only one who notices. It leads the unsuspecting only in circles… the glazing of eyes, the submission into monotony… no, I can’t let myself sink back in. I can always feel it, tempting me from the inside… is this the power the light holds? To subject us to its will and make us forget, as if we are all nothing but mere…?"_

The words fall off shakily, as if he’d been too afraid to finish his thought.

I let out a tiny breath.

This feeling– I know what he’s talking about. It’s exactly what I’ve been trying to explain to Kris all these years. It’s the lull of time passing, the temptation to just let the days blur by in their broken way and to fall back under the spell.

“Henrik?” I sit back a bit, and he turns to me. “Are you… are you, like, immune to it or something? How did you break yourself free from it?”

He eases his posture a bit, eyes back on the entry, his fingers tracing the color slowly as he gives his answer.

“It only began once I secluded myself away from people,” he explains, not looking up. “It was… it was as if the same force that caused me to take so many people’s lives before had shifted its tactic. Instead of forcing my hands to its will, it… it possessed me to create such things as I have never known. Mixtures of herbs that could induce hallucinations, salves that could make your skin crawl, elixirs that could induce such vivid dreams that could confuse one’s perception of reality. I…”

Suddenly he stops, his eyes falling closed.

“I… I am sorry, my friends,” he finally says, his fingers on his temple as if he’s in pain. “I am afraid that my mind is not what it used to be.”

Under his sleeve I can see a patch of skin that’s discolored and scarred as if he’s been scratching at it, and suddenly, with all the knowledge from the journals, I realize what must’ve happened.

He… he tested all these things on himself?

Everything starts to click…

The shaky hands, the faded hair, the bloodshot eyes, the constantly shifting handwriting– _he’d recorded all this while under the effects of his own work._ No wonder his mind isn’t what it used to be– how many different doses must he have administered to his own body over the years? It’s a miracle he still has his mind left after it all…

Marvin and I seem to reach the same conclusion at the same time.

Thinking of something, he reaches down into his satchel and digs around a bit. I hear the clinking of glass and the rustling of pages as he looks, then he pulls out a small, clear phial. I recognize it from the day he explained them all to me…

Giving me one more quick look, he stands and brings it over to Henrik, kneeling down at his side.

“Here, uh… drink this,” Marv tells him, putting the phial gently in the doctor’s fingers. “I, uh… I think it’ll really help you with that headache.”

Without even looking at what it is, Henrik undoes the cap, blinking wearily.

“You do not know how many things I have tried for these aches, my boy. At this point, I doubt anything but sheer sorcery can help me,” he responds with a defeated sigh. “But what is one more, I suppose?”

He carefully brings it to his lips, then goes bottoms-up and hands the empty glass phial back.

Marvin quickly collects it from him and sits back a little, looking back at me with a tiny hint of a smile on his face.

I narrow my eyes a little and return the glance.

What did he just give him…?

Turning my gaze back on Henrik, I see that nothing seems to have happened yet– that is, until…

The doctor blinks a few times in confusion, his gaze away from us. He sits up in his chair and raises his hand to his chest, as if feeling something changing on the inside…

His shoulders begin trembling, his eyes start to widen, and his breaths suddenly quicken. Lifting both shaking hands before himself, he finds himself staring at his wrists as the unnatural discoloration on his skin begins to fade away…

“W- _what?”_ I hear him release under his breath at the sight.

But it doesn’t stop there. His fingertips lose their near-ghostly tint, and healthy color starts to crawl down his arms…

Once it reaches his head, his eyes quickly fall closed again, despite how much I can see he wants to keep them open. His eyelids pressing tight, the real shift occurs…

As his face turns from pale to rosy and a deep bluish-teal blooms through his faded grey hair, he drops his posture and puts his hand to his chest again, breathing heavily while the final change takes place…

And then he finally stops. Somehow much calmer again, his breathing has slowed back to normal, and after a few moments’ pause, he blinks himself from his daze…

He opens and closes his fingers again, trembling again, but not out of weakness this time.

“I…” I hear him finally attempt words. “I do not… understand.”

“Are you… are you okay?” Marvin asks him hesitantly, probably already knowing the answer.

“I… I think so,” Henrik answers quietly, looking like he’s unsure how to feel.

“It might take you a few minutes to get used to the, uh… adjustment,” Marv goes on gently. “Looks like it did a thorough sweep. But you’ll be good soon, I think. It’ll settle in in no time.”

Schneeplestein nods a little, then starts shaking his head and looking at his hands again.

“What is this feeling?” he asks himself, still not looking at either of us. “My head is so… clear again. What happened?”

Letting out a satisfied smile, the boy tucks the phial back into his satchel as he gives his answer.

“You did just say that you thought only sorcery could help you,” Marvin says to him, trying to hide how pleased he is with himself. “So, y'know… I gave you some of that.”

I hear him let out a breath, and he finally looks up. I raise my eyebrows a bit– the marks of age around his eyes have faded.

“S-sorcery?” he stutters in awe. “But… I did not know such a thing truly existed!”

Marvin closes his eyes.

“Seeing isn’t believing,” the boy finishes, taking off his beanie to reveal his feline ears. “Believing is seeing.”

Henrik slowly stands up, his now-healthy blue eyes wide.

“A shapeshifter…?” I hear him murmur. “Marvin, you…”

There’s a pause as Marvin’s ears begin to flatten with fear. He still doesn’t open his eyes.

“You healed me when I could not heal myself,” he finishes quietly. “Thank you.”

Slowly Marv looks up at him, afraid. “You… you’re not gonna kick us out now?”

Schneeplestein huffs in confusion. “What? Why would I do such a thing?”

The apothecary steps closer to the boy and rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

“Because of you, I am… myself again, Marvin. If I can ever repay you as thanks for this by sharing what I know, then of course, I will pay it.”

Marvin’s eyes lighten, and his ears start to perk up again. 

Henrik smiles and ruffles the boy’s hair playfully. “It matters not to me what you are. Who you are is much more important. And you have proven to me that what you say about believing in things is true.”

Marv chuckles a little as he reaches up to fix his vibrant green hair. 

“Now,” the good doctor finishes, reinvigorated. “Let us continue where we left off. There is still much I would like to share with you.”


	13. Time Is Broken

Henrik looks upward and slowly runs his fingers through his restored, healthy hair– that deep teal-blue, a color I never would’ve guessed was hiding beneath all that patchy-tinted grey.

That’s when I notice something new– the age lines around his eyes. They're… gone.

“Henrik… how old are you?” I can’t help asking, wondering if that phial did a little more than just heal his insides.

“Ah, my appearance does tend to deceive,” he answers, his eyes glimmering with a youthful sparkle. “In truth, I am only a few years older than you, Jack. We are much closer in age than first meets the eye.”

My eyebrows raise in total shock. “Really? You looked a lot older before.”

He nods, dropping his gaze a little.

“It was the work of my madness that was eating away at me,” he explains, softer. “My madness, my experiments, my solitude. All of those together… a most toxic combination. And it certainly does not help that time itself seems to be… passing strangely, these days.”

Marvin’s ears suddenly perk up, and his eyes narrow a little.

“Wait, what?” the boy asks, tilting his head to one side a small bit, confused.

“I do not blame you for not noticing, my feline friend,” Henrik goes on, falling onto his knees and flipping through some of the journal he took from me. “It is easy to fall into a lull if you do not keep yourself aware of it.”

Analyzing the pages with fresh eyes and a fresh mind, he finds what he was looking for and beckons us with one finger. “Both of you. Come.”

—

After exchanging a quick glance with Marv, we make our way to either side of him and see…

It's… it looks like a page full of scribbles at first, but slowly, in the spaces between the corrupted writings, more of the sickly green hue fills in the blanks in the shape of the words “TIME” and “IS”. Then, beneath them both is perhaps the most grotesque drawing of all– in the shape of the word “BROKEN” are innumerable overlapping sketches of what look like clocks, shattered into pieces across the pages. Looking closer, all of the hands read 2:07, which seems to be a very specific and intentional choice…

“I… I wrote this while under the effects of one of my concoctions this morning, before you arrived,” he explains, a hesitant shakiness returning to his voice. “I hardly remember doing it. It was like… I was in a trance.”

“Do you have any idea what this means?” I ask Henrik slowly, feeling like the intricate details must have some significance.

“No,” he answers, shaking his head a little, then turning back to me, setting the journal in my hands. “Perhaps… perhaps it had something to do with your arrival today?”

I take the book gently from him, barely able to breathe.

People have called me crazy all of these years for thinking something was wrong, and now… here before me is the truth, written in an apothecary’s corrupted hand.

_Time is broken…_

As the thought resonates within me, I run my fingers over the pages, following the streaks of color between the black markings.

For all these years I’ve been convinced that I was the only one who knew…

“J-Jack,” I hear Marvin stutter, and it shakes me from my focus.

I almost answer him when I see what he’s talking about.

“What is it, Mar– wha…?”

The mark on the page beneath my fingertips… it's… glowing?

In alarm I pull my hand away, but nothing seems to change. It only seems to be getting stronger…

Quickly I set the book down on the table and risk a glance back to my friends. Schneeplestein has gone silent, his eyes fixed on the pages while holding a hesitant, protective arm out in front of Marvin to keep the boy from going any closer– which, from the looks of his flattened ears, he won’t be any time soon.

As the green grows brighter, the rest of the room seems to dim darker…

“It… whatever this is seems to know you, Jack,” I hear Henrik say quietly to me in his fascination. “Have you any idea how?”

I give a tiny shake of my head. “No.”

After a pause, I slip onto my knees and look closer at one of the drawings, noticing something else…

On all the hands of the broken clocks, the green light seems to be the strongest, yet… with every passing second, it fades and fades and fades until–

I flinch at the sound of cracking glass.

Out of nowhere, my ears pop, and something strange settles into the air around me– a stillness that makes my skin crawl.

“Wha…?” I let out silently, finding it hard to breathe.

I turn back to Henrik and Marvin, meaning to ask them if they feel this too, but before I can–

_They can’t hear you, Seán._

My eyes close without warning, and I begin to tremble.

“Who– who said that?” I risk calling out, finding it in me to stand and turn again. “Who are you!?”

Only echoing laughter greets my ears, and it tears through my mind like static.

As I nearly fall to the floor, I see that Henrik and Marvin are frozen in their places, both their eyes glowing with the same green light from the pages. The smoke falls from their faces to the ground, swirling around my feet…

_I’m here._

Suddenly a shape stands before me, made of the septic green smoke from my nightmares. Its outline flickers like stormclouds bursting with lightning, and in the places its eyes are supposed to be, two red spots flare like fire.

I stand again on shaky legs, my better words failing me.

“Wh… what are you?” falls from my lips. “How are you inside my head!?”

More laughter.

_I’m always here, Seán. Always watching._

What looks like an evil, crooked smile starts forming on its face…

_It won’t be long now… see you soon._

Without warning, the sound of shattering glass explodes into my ears again, sending me back to my knees with my hands pressed to the sides of my head. I’m suddenly breathing hard, as if I just had the wind knocked out of me…

“Wh- Jack?” I hear Marvin’s voice behind me.

“Jack,” Henrik’s voice joins in. “Are you okay? What is it?”

I swallow and sit back up, both of my hands running through my hair as my body adjusts back to normality. A dull pain starts setting in behind my eyes, as if there’s a bruise on my skull…

I feel someone come up behind me and offer me their hand. I look up and see Schneeplestein, with a worried look on his face.

“Jack, my friend,” he tries again, helping me stand and steady myself. “What is happening? Are you feeling okay?”

After a few more seconds of silence and catching my breath, I make myself nod.

“I…” I finally let out, not sure what to say or if they’ll believe me. “Something happened, I…”

Henrik’s hand falls on my shoulder, and the weight helps calm me enough to speak.

“It… it was like time stopped,” I explain fearfully, my gaze falling. _“Everything_ stopped. And… the voice, I heard it again.”

“What… what did it say?” Marvin hesitantly asks, standing up and joining us slowly, his ears still pointed down in apprehension.

“It…” I finish quietly, finally looking up to both of them. “It said that it won’t be long now.”


	14. A Light in the Darkness

Henrik looks between Marvin and I as we prepare to set out again.

“Where are the two of you headed, exactly?” he wonders, realizing he’s never asked us.

“The inner district,” I answer, feeling like I can trust him with this. “As close to the castle as we can get.”

He raises his eyebrows. “The castle? What business have you there?”

I pause before I tell him.

“All of my nightmares point me in that direction,” I quietly confess, sighing a little. “We’re getting closer by the day, and… they’re getting stronger. It shouldn’t take us long to get there now.”

The apothecary runs a hand through his greenish-teal hair, his gaze falling.

“Ah, yes, you did mention that before,” he says, mostly to himself as he jogs his mind. Then he looks up again. “But… if you are indeed heading for the palace, you are going to need some assistance getting there.”

“Assistance?” I can’t help but ask, my eyes narrow with confusion.

“Yes– the areas around here are riddled with crime and danger,” Henrik goes on. “You will want to secure yourself safe passage through.”

Marvin and I exchange a glance.

“How would we do that?” Marv asks, slipping his beanie back over his ears.

Schneeplestein looks at both of us again.

“There is a man out there who could help you,” he finishes after taking another breath. “The trouble is finding him.”

—

As evening falls, I go over Henrik’s description of the man we’re searching for in my mind one more time– a tall fellow with a dark coat and a red hood, wearing a blue mask over his mouth and nose. No one we’ve seen thus far fits the appearance.

Slowly making our way through the people heading in the opposite direction, I turn to look at Marvin again. He seems anxious, as if this is the greatest number of people he’s ever been around.

“You alright?” I ask him quietly as we weave the streets side by side.

He clutches the strap of the satchel tightly in his fingers, nervously looking around. “Does something seem… _wrong_ here to you?”

I look back up, at first not seeing what he’s talking about. Everything looks normal– at least, as normal as it could be…

But as I take my next step forward, it comes crashing through my senses. For a single moment, everything freezes, and I see what he means now– everyone here has the same glazed look in their eyes, the same blank expression on their faces. It’s as if they’re barely even alive… as if they’re all being controlled by the same force–

And then the moment passes.

After a pause, we both stop in our footsteps and I nod to him, giving him a knowing glance.

This is exactly what Henrik had written about– the lull of monotony, how easy it is to give in to time’s broken passage. Had I been pulled into it just now, before Marvin said anything?

In our moment of fearful realization, a figure slips past us quickly, pulling Marv’s satchel from his shoulder–

“H-hey!” he suddenly yells, snapping us both out of it. The figure takes off in a blur of deep green fabric and red hair pulled into a braid, and Marvin reaches out after her. “Thief!”

As if he’d just called her name, she turns around and I catch what she looks like– she’s a girl with brown eyes, light skin and freckles– but then, pulling her green cloak over her head again, she takes off running.

Pushing past me, Marvin sets off to give chase, and I follow close behind, trying to ignore the piercing stares I’m getting from the puppet-like crowd surrounding us. I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being followed…

Immune to what I’m seeing, Marvin pulls forward and reaches out his hand–

_“Lux congerere!”_

With a burst of light, power flies from his fingertips, and up ahead, a flash from the dark sky above stops the green-hooded girl in her tracks. She looks back again as we begin to catch up to her, then sprints to the right into an alleyway between two buildings.

“There!” the boy calls, chasing after her.

We turn the corner, expecting to see the culprit, but all we find is the satchel on the ground and a dead end.

“Wha…?” Marvin lets out in confusion, rushing to pick up his bag. “She was just here!”

I can’t say anything. There was… there was something _different_ about that girl, as if she didn’t belong here. I could sense it. And yet, she just vanished into thin air…

The sounds of footsteps behind us stop my thoughts in their tracks. I turn slowly, and I freeze.

“Where could she have gone?” the boy asks me, looking up to me after making sure everything inside the satchel is still intact.

I nudge him behind me, my eyes widening.

“Marv…”

“What? I–”

Before us are standing three men wearing dark hoods, each wielding a sword. Their eyes all flood with glowing green smoke that spills to the ground at their feet…

My breath catches in my chest as we slowly back ourselves to the wall.

“You see it too, right?” I murmur, and out of the corner of my vision, I see him nod.

It’s not just me who can see it this time…

Marvin slowly raises his hand again, shaking this time. We’ve been backed into a corner and we have nothing to defend ourselves with, except for whatever magic we can whip up…

I swallow, and just as I begin to see Marv’s lips barely move, a shadow intercepts the moonlight from above–

A masculine figure somersaults to a landing before us, facing the three swordsmen in our stead.

With a flick of his wrist at his side, he unsheathes a glimmering sword of his own and rises to his feet.

What happens next passes in a blur of red, black, and silver– the mysterious hero’s feet seem to dance impeccably into their places as he swings his blade to block incoming attacks from all sides. Singling one of the attackers out, he threads his arm through his opponent’s and drives his knee hard into their diaphragm, knocking the air out of them and sending them collapsing to the ground.

Seeing this, the other two back away from their fallen ally, the green light fading from their gazes…

With one more look from beneath the hero’s red hood, the two remaining swordsmen flee back to the passing crowds beyond the edge of the alley, disappearing into the night.

I slowly let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

Who is this man…?

As if he heard my thoughts, he turns, and I finally get to see his face. The lower half of it is hidden beneath a blue mask, but his bright eyes, full of spirit, speak volumes. Brown hair with a single green streak peeks out from beneath his scarlet hood as he sheathes his blade once more.

He takes a few steps closer to us.

“Are you two alright?” he asks with a deeper voice than I was anticipating.

After looking at each other, Marvin and I nod to him.

He extends his hand to me, and I hesitantly reach back. His grip is strong and unwavering.

“Sir?” I ask, nothing left in me but awe. “I… I think we’ve been looking for you. What’s your name?”

He winces slightly at the question, but covers it up before I can ask why.

“My true name… I gave that up, long ago,” he answers, his voice lower. Then he meets my gaze again, his eyes full of determination, and gives me my answer. “Most who know me call me Sam.”


	15. Into the Hollow

Sam leads us from our place in town back towards the forest, looking more at home among the trees.

“So… you saw everything?” Marvin asks him nervously, wringing his hands.

“Indeed I did,” the taller man replies, looking down to the boy. “And you seem to know your way around some magic.”

Marv’s face gets a little red. “I- I mean, I guess so.”

“You _guess?”_ Sam asks in disbelief. “You created a flash of light bright enough to stop a person in their tracks! And yet you say _you guess_ you know some magic?”

“He _is_ smarter than he gives himself credit for,” I put in, playfully nudging Marvin’s side. He looks down, embarrassed.

“You know,” Sam goes on, trying to smile at the boy. “I could always use someone like you. A little bit of magic is always handy, when it comes to what my people do.”

“And… what is it that your people do, exactly?” I can’t help but ask him. I’m still not over how he saved our lives and made it look so effortless.

“We… well, it’s difficult to explain,” he answers, looking upwards again. “Our ultimate goal is to set things right that have been made wrong. I was following that thief that stole your satchel with the intention of stopping her, getting it back and returning it to you– except, then, she vanished before my eyes. Then I saw those three dark swordsmen team up on you, and I had to step in and stop them.”

“So… you have a whole group of people dedicated to doing things like that?” Marv asks, finally looking up, his multicolored eyes full of moonlight and wonder. “That must be dangerous…”

“It is, but it’s also… fulfilling, like we’re doing something good for the world,” Sam tells him, smiling again. “And almost nobody knows who we are– we’re one of the best-kept secrets in the entire kingdom." 

—

After we make some more forward progress and tell Sam more of our story– why we’re on this journey in the first place, where we came from, how we heard of him from Schneeplestein– he looks back at Marvin again.

"You don’t have to hide from me, you know,” he says softly, nodding towards Marv’s beanie.

Anxiously the boy’s hands reach up to the seam of his hat. “Y-you know?”

Sam nods. “My ranks are full of people like you. Outcasts, like you and me.”

Marvin lowers his arms. “Are you…?”

The man shakes his head. “No, but I’ve been around enough of them to know when I see one. Go on, now. You don’t have to hide anymore.”

Nervously, Marv reaches up again and slowly pulls his beanie off, revealing his snowy white cat ears. They’re flattened because he’s so scared.

I can see Sam’s eyes smiling. “Where I come from, no one has to hide who they are. They can be proud of it.”

Marvin’s expression goes from frightened to confused, as if being proud of his abnormality is a thought that has never crossed his mind before.

“In fact,” Sam finishes, taking the lead again and pulling some brush aside up ahead. “We’ve just about made it there. Come on!”

Slipping through the branches, I feel something change. My skin tingles all over my body, and suddenly I feel the warmth of sunshine hit me, even though it must be the dead of night by now. What’s happening…?

When I open my eyes again, I’m greeted by golden daylight, and my whole body feels rejuvenated and awake again, as if I’d just awoken from a wonderful night’s sleep. Blinking, I get a good look around…

All around us are people, congregated together in a place unlike anything I’ve ever seen. In the heart of the forest is a large clearing, set up with various stations for people to meet and tents for them to sleep in. I see a young man with white hair and a purple scarf talking to a young, pale woman with a patch of snakeskin on her neck, deep in discussion. Beyond them I see a falcon swooping down from the skies above– and then, before my eyes, that very falcon transforms into an older woman in loose clothing with black feathers adorning the backs of her hands. Among others, I spot a huntress clothed in furs, walking side by side with a snow leopard that seems to be her companion, and two more men having a mock swordfight– one wearing red with long blonde hair and brownish-green eyes, the other wearing blue with dark skin and an unbending blade.

“Welcome to the Hollow,” Sam tells us, and beneath his mask, I can tell he’s smiling.

I still can barely catch my breath, awed. “What was that?”

“The barrier,” he explains, and I see that Marvin was going to ask the same question. “A sorcerer passed through here long ago and enchanted this place, so that only those who know where it is can find it. It was used for mages by many years so they could practice their magic in secret. It sat abandoned for a long time, until I found it and set up camp here.”

As we follow Sam into the open, more and more eyes turn upon us in curiosity.

“Attention, everyone,” our leader calls out, turning everybody towards us. The two men having a mock battle stop and join the rest. “I would like to welcome into our midst today, Marvin and Jack!”

Without warning, cheers come from everywhere around us. An extra-loud one comes from my right– I turn and see a group of people, each marked in some way that tells me they’re all shapeshifters.

Then Sam raises his fist in the air, and everyone around us joins in the motion with one more hurrah.

I can’t help but smile a little. I’ve never imagined I’d ever be part of a place like this… just being here feels unreal.

“Marvin,” Sam says, looking back at him. “Would you like to go introduce–”

But he’s already a few steps ahead, staring at the group of shifters who cheered for him with curious eyes. He quickly looks back, as if to ask for permission.

Sam smiles again. “Meet us back here later, alright?”

Marvin nods, then turns around again and takes off in their direction.

With a confident sigh, Sam turns back to me.

“Now, Jack,” he tells me, crossing his arms. “After hearing your journey’s purpose… I believe we have much to learn from one another. Follow me.”

—

I follow after Sam as he leads me away from camp. He doesn’t look back at me, as if the matter at hand is something very serious.

“Where are we going?” I find myself asking him.

He stops in his tracks after a few steps, and I stop too as he turns around to face me.

“Jack,” he asks quietly. “Have you ever heard the legend of the prince’s sword?”

I raise my eyebrows a little and shake my head.

“Long ago, before the prince was born, the king and queen had a sword made for their son,” he tells me in a low voice, coming a little closer to me. “It was said to have been forged in the golden rays of daybreak, and to be able to cut through any darkness inside a person’s soul. The blade was named Loinnir, for its shine when held in the daylight is like that of the rising sun.”

I let out a small breath of awe.

“My family…” he goes on, his eyes closing as he struggles to get the words out. “Before I started the Hollow, my birth family was a family of thieves of the highest order. After the king and queen’s disappearance, my father snuck into the castle and stole Loinnir from where it was being guarded. Now, me… I never wanted to grow up and be something so unscrupulous as a thief. So I took Loinnir, ran away, and set myself out to right things that had been wronged.”

He pauses, shakes his head, and opens his eyes again.

“Ever since then, nearly everyone who has joined the Hollow has tried their hand at wielding Loinnir as their own. None have succeeded. It's… it’s as if the sword itself chooses who it belongs to,” he finishes, beginning to turn back around. “Jack… it is now your turn to wield Loinnir.”

As he faces forward again, we come upon a small clearing with a single ancient tree trunk in the middle. Plunged into its center is a golden hilt, adorned with small green and blue gems forming a circle at the blade’s base.

Sam approaches it and carefully pulls it out of its pedestal, then slowly turns back around and gives it to me gently.

As it meets my hands, a shiver runs up my spine, and I immediately start to feel a comforting warmth seep into my skin. I take the hilt in my right hand and grip it just to see how it feels, and it feels… natural.

I lift it upright. The sword’s weight feels like nothing to me, as if the length of the blade is merely an extension of myself.

“Tell me, Jack,” Sam says, interrupting my thoughts. “Have you ever used a blade like this?”

I let out a bit of a laugh, my gaze unmoving. “Never in my life.”

After a pause, he steps backward and draws his own sword, standing in a ready position.

I suddenly realize what he’s doing, and without warning, my own body assumes a position like his without me telling it to.

“Well, you’re about to learn how,” he finishes with a small smile.

In a split second, he lunges at me, but before I even realize it, my blade crosses his and knocks it out of the way.

We stay frozen like that for a moment, and I see his eyebrows furrow…

Then he leaps up again, his feet landing perfectly in place as he advances toward me– but with each swipe, my sword finds his and blocks his every move. Without thinking, I duck beneath his next swing, pull forward and knock him off his balance, sending him stumbling backwards into a tree. The next time I blink, I have Loinnir pointed to his chest, and we’re both breathing hard.

“I thought you said you don’t know how to use a blade,” he asks between breaths, his eyes wide and confused.

I shake my head, my eyes wider than his.

_“I don’t.”_

There’s a long pause.

“Then…” he finally lets out, unable to finish his thought.

I pull my sword away from him, but as I do, something about the way the blade is glimmering in the sunshine draws my eyes towards it…

Suddenly I see three people– two men and one woman. One of the men holds the sword before him, bowing and presenting it to the other, who stands beside her… they look so happy…

“Jack?”

Sam’s deep voice brings me back to the present. I blink, and the vision is gone.

I shake my head a little. “Huh?”

“Jack, if you don’t know how to use a sword, then how did you just best me?” he wonders out loud, still looking between me and Loinnir in awe.

“I… I don’t know,” I answer truthfully, stepping back a little from him. “It… it was like something else was controlling my body when you came at me.”

Sam’s eyebrows go up as he sheathes his own sword again.

“That's… part of the legend of the sword,” he says slowly, staring at Loinnir. “It was said that the sword itself would assist the one meant to wield it. And you–”

He looks up to me again with wonder in his eyes.

“It just helped you, Jack. It's… it’s you!”

“But… how?” I can’t help asking, even more confused. “I don’t have a noble heritage. I was born and raised on the outskirts of the kingdom. Why me?”

“Perhaps the sword knows something you don’t,” Sam tells me, crossing his arms. “Perhaps… perhaps it needs you for something, since you’re headed for the castle.”

I barely hear him. My eyes are fixed on Loinnir, the sword in my hands, the blade that chose me to wield it.

Perhaps the sword knows something I don't… I wonder what that could be?

As if on cue, I feel the sensation of a ghost hand crawling across my neck with its fingers, chilling me to the bone.

A familiar voice whispers into both my ears at once…

_That’s it, Seán. Now… come to me._


	16. What Makes a Hero

Sam and I walk slowly side by side as we make our way back towards camp.

“So, Jack,” he says, his eyes shining with the unfading sunlight of this enchanted place. “Now you’ve got your weapon, and you’re getting closer to the end of your journey. How does it feel?”

“The end?” I can’t help asking, saying the words mostly to myself. “It feels like I’ve only just left home…”

I get to thinking about it, just how far I’ve come. It’s all been such an adventure that I’ve hardly given any thought to what I left behind. Are my parents worried about me? Did Kris ever try to follow me? Or have they all fallen back into the lull of time and hardly noticed my absence…?

I think back to my house on the outskirts of the kingdom, the home I’ve always known. I can still clearly picture it in my mind, though I can’t deny that the image is fading by the day.

If only there was some way I could go back and tell them I’m alright…

“… I can’t describe it,” I tell Sam, his presence beside me bringing me back to the moment.

It’s all gone by so fast…

How _did_ we get here?

—

Later, after we make our return to the camp, I find myself alone, sitting outside Sam’s tent as I wait for Marvin to return.

It’s then that it hits me, just exactly what I’m going to be doing soon enough. If what Prosperus said is true, and if what Henrik and I think is correct, then… I may be facing down the very force that controls everybody in the kingdom into thinking nothing is wrong. The same entity that speaks to me in my dreams and makes people’s eyes bleed with green. And now, thanks to Sam and Loinnir, I’m armed.

How dangerous is this going to be?

Am… am I even going to make it out alive?

I tense at the thought, and Sam seems to notice as he walks up to me.

“Everything alright?” he asks, meeting my gaze.

I sigh a little. “Yeah, just… all of this– the journey, the sword, all the legends… it’s as if I’m supposed to be some sort of hero or something. I… I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

At this, I see him smile a little bit. He sits down beside me.

“No hero ever thinks they are, until the moment comes when they have to be,” he tells me wistfully, pulling his blue mask down off of his mouth so I can hear him better. “From what I’ve heard? What you’re doing is going to save _everyone,_ Jack.”

“That’s what I can’t get my head around,” I admit quietly, my eyes falling. “Why am I any different from anybody else? Why did it have to be me to go on this crazy, amazing journey?”

Sam shrugs. “Maybe it wouldn’t have been the same if it had been anybody else. Maybe _you’re_ what’s made the journey so special– how you’ve impacted people along the way.”

“Impacted people?” I can’t help but question. “How have I done that?”

“Are you kidding?” he asks with a laugh. “You convinced Schneeplestein that he wasn’t crazy, after all these years of the world telling him otherwise. You helped that Brody kid figure out what to do with his family. Have you even seen the change in Marvin since the two of you first met? From what I hear, he was just a sorcerer’s apprentice before he met you. Now look at him, finally getting the chance to grow into a young man.”

He nods behind me, and I turn around to see Marvin on his way towards us, lingering for a few more moments to talk to a particular new friend of his who has black cat ears on top of her head in contrast to his white ones. I can’t help but smile a little.

Sam starts to stand again, pulling his mask back over his face.

“You’re more of a hero than you think you are, Jack,” he finishes as he rises to his feet.

Before I can say anything in response, he walks away in the other direction, jogging to meet with the falcon woman I saw earlier.

Moments later, Marvin finally approaches me.

“Hey, sorry I took so long,” he greets me, sounding nervous, yet exhilarated.

I grin, seeing how happy he looks.

“What have you gotten up to?” I ask, inviting him to sit next to me.

He lets out a breath as he takes a seat on the grass.

“Jack, I…” he starts, unable to finish right away. “I’ve never met so many people like me in one place like this. It's… incredible!”

He proceeds to tell me about all the new friends he’s made– the girl I saw earlier with the black cat ears, a boy with the tail of a wolf, another girl with reptilian fangs, another boy with the ears of a grizzly bear. The group seems to have really taken him in and accepted him for who he is– he’s never really had any friends like that in his life, and to him, it’s a feeling unlike anything he’s ever known.

As I listen to him go on and on about what he’s gotten up to with them all day, I can’t help but remember Sam’s words. Back at Prosperus’s place, Marv would have never been this openly excited about anything, not even his studies. Maybe I have impacted him after all…

“Anyway, that was my day,” he finishes with a big breath and a smile. “How was yours?”

I sit up on my knees and pull Loinnir out from behind me. As I touch it, the tingly warmth meets my fingers again, and it nearly takes me by surprise.

Marv’s eyes instantly widen. “Woah…”

Spellbound, he hesitantly reaches for the hilt.

“I'm… I’m picking up on some serious magical energy here… what is this?”

I let him hold it, then let out a bit of a sigh and explain.

“Sam got me acquainted with a sword today,” I tell him as he eyes it up and down. “It's… it’s like magic, when I hold it. For anyone else, it refuses to work.”

“Really?” the boy asks in awe. “I’ve only heard of enchanted weapons like that in my books, but to actually see one! And it works for _you?”_

“Apparently so,” I answer. “It was made for the prince, long ago. I'm… still not sure why it chose me– maybe because we’re headed to the castle where it belongs?”

He hands it back to me gently, and I set it down by my side, the blade shimmering in the light of the sun.

“Could be,” he puts in, his eyes still wide. “That's… wow, that’s amazing.”

As he finishes, Sam returns from behind us, and a falcon takes off to the skies from sitting on his outstretched forearm– I recognize it as the woman I saw before in her animal form.

“Jack, Marvin,” he tells us, crossing his arms with authority. “I’ve just sent a messenger on wing to Castle Town. There’s someone there who I think can help you on the final step of your journey. Until she returns and we hear word back from him, you’re welcome to stay with us in the Hollow, where you’ll be safe and protected.”

I stand up and nod in respect. “Thank you.”

“Now then,” he finishes, looking to each of us. “You two should get some rest. You still have yet to fully recover from our first meeting, don’t you?”

As he says the words, I remember just how long I’ve been awake for. We haven’t slept since… wait, what time is it? The sun never sets here in the Hollow. Gosh, this is all so confusing…

Out of nowhere, I find myself yawning.

“That settles it,” Sam says with a laugh. “Come on. You can use my tent.”

As I get settled in, Marvin trots in through the entrance in his cat form and curls up next to me. I smile and give him a small pat, then I lay down my head and close my eyes.

No nightmares bother me. It’s the best sleep I’ve gotten in a long time.


	17. The Bonfire

No nightmares bother me, but just before I wake up, visions of my home take shape before my eyes…

Kris, running to my mother and father, telling them I’ve disappeared… the two of them looking at each other in response, as if they might know something about where I’ve gone or why I left…

“Jack,” Marvin’s voice wakes me, shaking me gently. “Jack, wake up!”

“Hm?” I let out softly, blinking my eyes open to see him kneeling above me.

I sit up slowly.

“Marv? What’s up?”

His gaze darts between me and the entrance to the tent. I suddenly hear a lot of commotion just outside…

“I don’t know,” he answers, his eyes wide. “Something’s going on out there.”

Through the entrance, I see many pairs of feet walking by, all heading the same direction.

I raise an eyebrow and rise to my knees.

“Let’s go check it out." 

—

I sheathe Loinnir at my side. Leaving the tent and standing up, Marvin and I follow the rest of the crowd to see what’s going on…

Everybody who makes their home here in the Hollow is here, surrounding a large bonfire that’s been made in the center of the camp. I recognize Marvin’s new feline friend among the group, noticing that one of her ears has a small tear in it. Among others, I spot the two men in red and blue who were swordfighting earlier clinking glasses with each other, and a younger man with spiky golden hair dressed in green joins them. The huntress stands near them, her snow leopard companion lingering near the fire. The whole place is alive with chatter that only seems to grow as Marvin and I get closer…

We approach Sam, who strums a stringed instrument gently while he sits in his place on the ground.

"Sam?” I ask, looking around one more time before continuing. “What’s all this?”

He looks up to us and smiles beneath his blue mask.

“Ah, welcome! You’re just in time,” he greets us, setting his guitar down and standing. “Everyone has heard of your journey, and we’ve decided to give you a proper sendoff before you leave us. Welcome to a true Hollow celebration!”

As he finishes, he raises his arms and his voice, and everybody around us raises one of their hands to join him in the motion with a unanimous hurrah.

While he puts his arms back down, the white-haired boy with the purple scarf approaches from behind, bringing his own instrument. Sam turns and smiles at him, and he nods.

“Now,” he asks, picking up his guitar again and approaching the fire. “Who’s ready for some music?”

—

Marv and I look to each other as he sits down nearby and begins to strum again, the young man joining him and raising his fiddle to his neck.

It starts slowly, with just Sam and his guitar. Everyone falls to silence to be able to listen to the low, resounding tones.

Not long after, the white-haired boy begins to play a quick, rustic melody on his own instrument, layering on top of Sam’s base. The two play off of each other, and within moments, a soft clapping beat begins to form, and everyone around us slowly joins in…

Then, the magic begins to happen.

Taking off from his melody, the boy on the fiddle closes his eyes and lets his spirit play his instrument. His fingers moving like lightning and his bow stroking the strings, people all around us begin to cheer for him. Sam follows his lead, adjusting his lower harmony and rocking his body to his partner’s rhythm.

As they keep going, the sky begins to darken for the first time since Marvin and I arrived here. What’s happening?

Not giving me any time to question it, a woman dressed all in red with cascading brown curls of hair steps in towards the bonfire and begins to dance to the beat, twirling effortlessly on her feet. More cheers arise from the crowd for her, and a few step in to join her, though their moves hardly compare to hers. She must be some sort of dancer…

As I finish the thought, she dances her way closer to me, then extends her hand my way. I raise my eyebrows– I wasn’t prepared for this. I shake my head a little to her. Besides, I can’t dance, and I’d look silly next to her–

Marvin suddenly pushes me, and I stumble forward, nearly running into her. There’s a cheer as the crowd recognizes me, and another as they all see Loinnir sheathed at my side.

I look back at Marv and see him grinning, but before I can back up or say anything, her hand takes mine–

Before I can even blink, she pulls me back towards the fire with her. As she does, I feel something new and strange come over me, as if I’m being put under a spell by the music. Somehow my feet suddenly know what to do…

Letting the rhythm move me and the melody guide me, I release my tension and let myself dance. Closing my eyes, I hear more applause and cheering coming from everywhere around me, feeling the heat of the bonfire to my side as I spin around and face my partner again.

She smiles at me, and I twirl her under my arm, her deep brown eyes glistening in the fading light of dusk. After that, she leads me back towards Marvin, letting go of my hand and letting me drift on my feet back to my place on the the ring of people.

“I didn’t know you could dance,” the boy says to me, laughing.

I find myself grinning back at him, breathless. “Neither did I.”

I turn back around and face the fire again, joining in the ever-growing beat of claps around us. Having been inspired by me and the dancer, more pairs of partners enter the center of the circle, stepping in time to the rhythm of the spellbinding song.

As the music surges upward again, so does my companion’s confidence. He quietly steps away from me, picking his way around the crowd until I see who he’s looking for– the cat-eared girl I saw before. I see them speak briefly, then I grin as she pulls Marvin in towards the fire and they begin to dance on their own. They’re a bit clumsy together, but it only makes them laugh harder and smile wider.

I spot the spiky-haired man I saw before making rounds around the ring, carrying drinks and passing them out to people. He finally nears me, handing me a glass. I nod in thanks and take a sip, feeling the rich warmth crawl down my throat. Whatever this is, it’s delicious, and I’ve never had anything like it.

As I watch the scene before me continue to unfold, I can’t help but laugh. These people are all like found family with each other, even though they all come from different places and backgrounds, and nothing short of magic happens when they come together like this. Here I am, getting a peek into the fold. It’s incredible…

Suddenly, with one final resounding clap from the crowd, the music stops, followed by more cheers. Everyone dancing in the center around the fire stops in place and catches their breath, Marvin and his friend among them.

Sam stands, joins hands with the white-haired boy, and bows with him, much to the applause of the circle around them. I give an extra cheer for the fiddler as he raises his instrument upward for all to see.

Looking up, I see that night has fallen over this mysterious place, and the stars above twinkle brighter than I’ve ever seen them before. I can’t help but smile again– as if the Hollow needed any more proof that it was enchanted…

Then, in the sky, I see something else. A winged shadow between the ground and the moonlight is circling overhead as if searching for a place to land safely.

Keeping my eyes on it, I jog up to Sam, who seems to be looking above him at the same thing. Marvin, having seen it too, leaves his new friends to re-join us.

Setting his guitar down on the ground, he speaks to us.

“There’s our messenger,” he says, and I can see his eyes smiling out of the corners of my own. “Clockwise. That means our friend in Castle Town is ready to meet you.”

The three of us look down again, sharing a glance.

“Sam, I…” I try to say, unable to fight my grin. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

He looks to me as if to say that no thanks is necessary.

“Get yourselves prepared,” he finishes after a pause, looking up again and pulling up his red hood. “I’ll escort you to the barrier shortly. You still have quite a journey ahead of you.”


	18. Searching the Silence

After preparing ourselves as best we can and saying goodbye to the people of the Hollow, Marvin and I follow Sam back to the outskirts. Out here, I can feel the magic of the barrier beginning to wear thin– it’s a sensation I can’t even begin to describe.

“Continue straight until you reach Castle Town, then head east,” he instructs us. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to make it to his house by the time night falls on the outside.”

I nod a little. Straight, then east. Got it.

“But above all else– _do not get caught by the royal patrol._ They circle Castle Town throughout the day, on guard for any suspicious characters. There’s a curfew set in place– anyone outside after sunset is breaking the law. You’ll want to make good speed so you’ll reach your destination before then.”

At this, a bit of nervousness crawls through my chest. Here’s where the real danger comes in…

He turns to Marv, who’s cautiously putting his beanie back over his ears.

“Marvin, you may want to think about employing what you’ve got in that satchel there to help you two get there before nightfall,” he tells him, and the boy nods. Sam puts a hand on his shoulder. “You’re more powerful than you think you are. Remember that.”

Then he turns to me.

“Jack… even wielding Loinnir, you will have to be cautious. The royal guard will recognize that sword and probably think you’re the one who stole it. Do what you must to hide it from their sight,” he warns me, and I give him another nod.

With a breath, he continues.

“Remember, head straight, and then east once you reach Castle Town. He’ll be waiting for you in a house with a single lantern hung in the front window– he’ll be expecting you two.”

“What does he look like?” Marvin asks, adjusting the seam of his hat.

“He’s an older gentleman with bright blue hair,” Sam answers, looking between the two of us. “He’s got a mustache on his face– you’ll know him when you see him." 

We all exchange one more look as he parts the brush before us, opening the way back to the outside world.

“Even when your journey is over, remember, you’re always welcome with us,” Sam finishes, winking at me and giving us both a smile. “Until we meet again… may the road rise up to meet you.”

With one more quick goodbye and thanks, Marvin and I pass through the open brush, and then the barrier…

I blink, and it’s afternoon outside, the sunbeams filtering through the trees. I look behind me, and Sam is gone.

I take a deep breath and one more glance at Marvin, feeling reassured.

"Ready for the next journey?” I ask him, adjusting Loinnir at my side.

He smiles back at me. “I feel more ready now than I’ve ever been." 

—

We do our best to follow Sam’s directions– straight through the forest, until we hit Castle Town. We make good headway towards civilization, slowing down to talk after a while of silence.

"So,” I ask, giving Marvin a playful nudge in the side. “Who was that girl you were dancing with at the fire?”

His face goes a little red at the question.

“Her name’s Mae,” he answers quietly, his hand going nervously to the back of his neck. “She introduced me to her friends– and we’re all shifters. I’ve never met so many people I’d had something in common with. It was… freeing, in a way. I didn’t have to hide anything anymore.”

I can’t even imagine being in his situation– finding so many others who’ve gone through something similar must’ve been liberating indeed.

“I’m glad you made some friends,” I tell him, patting his shoulder. “Did you find much to talk about?”

Instead of flinching at my touch, he laughs. “Yeah, they all seemed interested in my sorcery! It was… cool, showing them bits and pieces of what I can do.”

As he finishes, we approach a cobblestone road– this must be the border to Castle Town.

I let out a breath. “Well, we may need to see what exactly you can do soon enough.”

Pulling his beanie on tighter, he looks to me one more time.

“Let’s see what we’re up against.”

We weave the winding roads, the castle looming over us now. Everything is grey– grey streets and grey houses, under a grey overcast sky that would even block out the stars at night. It feels completely abandoned here, other than the few people we see lingering outside their homes. Fewer still are those whose glances we briefly meet– everyone here seems to be afraid of everyone else, including us.

We’re the only two really out in the open. The air is thick with the feeling of oppression… I can’t help but wonder what happened here, and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched by somebody.

Our footsteps seem loud among the quiet of this place. I can barely bring myself to murmur any conversation…

“… do you feel it, too?” I whisper to Marvin, looking around us again at our eerie surroundings.

He nods and starts walking closer to my side, unable to break the silence.

It’s after a while into our journey that we finally come across one of the royal patrols. They’re all dressed in deep green and riding great black horses up the streets…

I make eye contact with one of the riders, perhaps for too long.

“Good day,” he says to me, looking me up and down. He’s got pale skin, long red hair, beady brown eyes with a scar over his left one. He seems mistrusting of any person he comes across…

I turn to my side, hiding Loinnir from his view. “Good day to you, sir.”

Lingering on me for one more moment, he spurs his horse to move ahead, and they both disappear behind us before long. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“We better hurry, Jack,” Marv says, getting my attention again, looking to the sky. “It’ll be sunset before we know it. We don’t want to attract any more attention.”

I realize he’s right, and I give him a nod, taking the lead again.

After another while of walking the silent streets and the sun getting steadily lower in the sky, we take a moment to get our bearings. No houses we’ve seen yet have had a single lantern hanging in the window, and I’m beginning to worry that we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere…

A familiar caw from above interrupts my thoughts, echoing loudly and shattering the silence. I look up, and…

It’s a falcon– the very same falcon from the Hollow. Is she here to guide us?

High above us, she swoops to the left as we approach the next street… I tug Marvin’s sleeve, and he looks up with me. We follow her directions.

After absentmindedly following her for a while, a new sound shakes me back to the present–

“He’s got the sword!”

All of my body immediately tenses. I turn quickly, seeing the same red-haired man from before and a new fellow dressed in black beside him on his own dark horse, drawing his blade.

“Stop in the name of the law!”

I instantly start sprinting, Marvin at my side. Hoofsteps thunder behind us. We can’t hold our lead for long–

Suddenly Marvin turns around and stretches his hand out towards them–

_“Tonitrus canere!”_

Without warning, lightning flies from his fingertips and strikes the ground near the horses’ feet, spooking them into making them buck their riders off their backs. I let out a quick breath of awe. That should buy us some time…

“After them!”

Bolting away as fast as we can, we duck sideways into an alley, and they run past its entrance. Giving each other a look, we run the length of it, only to find a dead end– all that’s here is a small, animal-sized hole in the wall with faint light coming from the other side. Looking back towards where we came from, I know what I have to do.

“Marv, go!” I tell him quietly, but forcefully. “You can shift. You can get out of here unseen!”

“I’m not leaving you!” he whispers back, his multicolored eyes flashing with defiance. “I’ll find a way to get us both out of here!”

He immediately starts digging through his satchel when a thought hits him.

“Unseen… that’s it!” he exclaims softly, snapping his fingers.

“What’s it?” I ask, keeping an eye out for our adversaries.

He doesn’t answer me right away. Instead, he pulls out a phial from his bag and presses it into my hand.

I examine it, confused. It has a shimmering blue liquid inside that looks like a sky full of stars…

“What is this stuff?” I ask him, turning to him briefly.

“Drink it,” he tells me, closing his satchel again. “It’ll make you invisible!”

_“Invisible?”_ I can’t help but say in disbelief.

“Yeah. I’ll shift and escape through this hole– you drink that and meet me on the other side of the wall!”

I can’t help but be a little scared. “But–”

“Any sign of them?”

I suddenly hear voices from the entrance of the alley. They must be coming this way…

“Jack, drink it!” Marvin hisses under his breath.

I look at the phial in apprehension one more time, then nod. “Alright–”

“They must’ve come this way!” one of the voices says again, closer to us this time.

Feeling Marvin’s presence shift behind me, I decide it’s now or never–

In a split second, I untwist the cap and bring the elixir to my lips, swallowing as fast as I can. Within moments, a tingly warmth starts spreading throughout my body, spreading outwards from my chest…

I turn down to see Marvin’s tail disappearing into the hole–

The brown-eyed man suddenly comes chasing down the alleyway towards me–

“You there! Stop!–”

He raises his lantern and stops in his tracks, his dark-haired partner catching up beside him. 

I freeze in place, not even breathing. Silence reigns for a few moments as his beady eyes search for me…

His partner turns to him in resignation.

“We’ve lost them, Darius,” he says in a deep voice. “They escaped from right under our noses.”

The one called Darius steps closer to where I stand at the wall in disbelief.

“But… but how!?” he shouts, his confusion turning to anger.

The darker-haired man tugs on his arm, and Darius lowers his lantern. “They can’t have gone far– they’re no faster than we are. Let’s go search for them.”

With one more huff, Darius tears his eyes away from the wall behind me and follows his partner back out of the alley, leaving me in the darkness. 

I slowly exhale. My heart is pounding so hard in my ears that I’m surprised they couldn’t hear it beating…

Not even giving myself the opportunity to linger, I silently track my way out of the alley and through the streets. It’s nighttime now– I’ll have to be extra careful.

I somehow make my way completely around to the other side of the wall I’d been stopped on. In the dim light coming from the windows of the dark houses, I search for my companion.

“Marv,” I whisper, turning in circles. “Marv!”

Behind me, I suddenly hear his voice. “Jack?”

I turn and see him sitting against the wall of a house behind me, hiding in the shadows.

Feeling another burst of warmth, I look down and see my body suddenly reappearing beneath me– I let out another short breath of awe.

Before I can say anything to him, the door of the house Marv is sitting against slowly creaks open, and someone peeks out at both of us, awestruck.

He’s an older-looking gentleman with blue hair and a mustache. His gaze glimmering in the grey moonlight, he looks between us with wide eyes, and, after a few moments, he beckons.

With one more glance at Marv, I nod, and we follow him inside. 

This is the man we’ve been looking for.


	19. Speechless

The gentleman leads us inside and closes the door gently behind us, then comes quickly walking back around to us and pulls out a small writing pad from his pocket.

With a flourish of his wrist he writes something, then he shows it to us with a small, still hesitant yet genuine smile.

_I apologize for any mess– please make yourselves at home. I’ll join you momentarily._

Marvin and I exchange a glance and then nod back to him. We don’t say anything– is there a reason he’s being so quiet?

Shortly, after setting his hat down on the nearby table, he invites us to sit with him, writing another message on his notepad.

_Pardon me, I’ve forgotten to introduce myself– Sir Jameson Jackson, former royal guard, at your service._

—

“Is…” Marvin asks apprehensively. “Is there a reason why you’re writing things down and not talking?”

Jameson faces the ground, as if he knew the elephant in the room would come up…

I see him shut his eyes, and his chest rises and falls with a certainty– then he looks again at his tools one more time and starts to write.

I can’t help but watch his facial expression shift as he puts his words down. It seems like, whatever he’s going to tell us, he hasn’t told many people about it, if any at all…

After a few more moments, he breathes again silently, then puts his note on the table and pushes it to us. He still doesn’t look at us…

Apprehensively, I take his message into my hands and read it:

_To this day I still am unsure exactly what happened to me, but I can find no better terminology for it than… a curse._

I feel a distinct single heartbeat in my chest when I finish reading.

“A… a curse?” Marvin asks nervously, obviously being more well-versed on the subject than me. “Are you certain it’s of some magical variety and not just a natural thing?”

Without hesitation, Jameson nods.

I give a quick glance at Marvin, who seems just as perplexed as I do.

“Can I… can I ask how you’re sure?” the boy goes on cautiously. “I don’t disbelieve you, I just need to see the extent of it.”

Before we can give him the notepad back, he holds up a single finger, as if to tell us to wait…

Moments later, he sneezes soundlessly into his elbow.

“Bless you,” I say without thinking, and he nods a little.

I expect him to take the paper now, but… he doesn’t. He just turns and looks at both of us with a hesitant expression, as if waiting for us to see something…

And then it hits me.

“Wait a second,” I say under my breath, sitting up more in surprise. “I think I know why he’s certain, Marv.”

“Wha–? Why?” the boy asks me in confusion, having missed the now-clear point that was just made.

“If he was mute, if it was a natural thing, we would still be able to hear him breathe. He doesn’t need his vocal cords for that,” I explain quickly, realizing the weight of the situation at hand. “And yet, here he just sneezed, without so much as a sound.”

Jameson points in my direction and nods.

I'm… right.

I feel Marvin tense with the same epiphany beside me.

“You…” I finish quietly, looking to our host. “You’re not mute. You… you were _silenced.”_

There’s a long pause after I say the words.

Taking a few more deep breaths and shaking out his writing hand, he begins scribbling his story to us in his neat, swift script:

_I remember having a voice once, when I was a young boy. I was exactly like everyone around me, aspiring to one day be a member of the royal guard. But then, one night… that changed._

_It was a cold night. I couldn’t sleep– I was always a restless one, but this felt… different. I was awoken by the sound of thunder, yet… when I looked out my window, I saw nothing but a man and a woman quickly traveling down the road, opposite the direction of the castle. The woman was holding something in her arms, and I would later learn that it was not a thing at all, but a child._

_I peeked out my door and watched them as they went. They looked… afraid. And I didn’t recognize them at all– their faces were well-hidden beneath their robes._

_I decided to follow them. My family didn’t live far from the limits of the kingdom– I figured that if they crossed the border, I would turn back. They never saw me. But… not long after I’d started following them, they stopped by a doorstep. I didn’t know whether to interfere, so I held back._

_They… they left the child in blankets on that doorstep. They looked so… torn about it, as well, as if they never wanted to abandon the child but felt they had no choice. Then they started to leave, but before they got very far and before I could make myself known to them, something… happened to them. I… I apologize if my description seems… beyond reason, but… I’ve a feeling the two of you may believe me…_

_It… it came from the child on the doorstep. A horrific cracking sound, then… a cloud of strange green light. Without warning it swelled and enveloped the couple entirely, then, as if it were mere smoke, it was swept by the strongest wind up into the air and back toward the castle, and the couple had vanished with it._

I pause to catch my quickening breaths as I read. This… sounds like something I’ve heard before…

I make myself continue.

_Unable to believe my eyes and finding myself alone, I ran up to the child on the doorstep to see if it was still breathing. It… was. It seemed… at peace, fast asleep. I decided it was best not to disturb it, in light of recent events._

_I turned back toward my home, only wanting to fall back asleep and call what I’d just seen nothing but a nightmare. But it wasn’t for long that I remained alone, for the strange light I’d seen swallow the man and woman came sweeping back through the skies– this time, for me._

_It gathered by my feet, suddenly rising into the shape of a person much taller than me at the time. Its image still haunts me to this day… all I could see of its face were two eyes, black as a void._

_Then like lightning it reached its hand for me– through me at the throat. I couldn’t move. It burned like a blaze of fire. And… while it did its work to me, I felt limp, unable to resist, as if I was nothing but a doll to play with._

_And then it was done. It had let go of me, and I was on the ground, coughing as if I’d just been smothered, but not making a sound. I looked back up, and there it was, standing above me, holding… a part of me in its hand. How I knew it was a part of me, I still don’t understand, and yet…_

_In that moment, I knew exactly why it had done what it did to me: I was not to speak a single word of what I’d seen to anyone, ever._

_And then it was gone, just like that. From that night forward… I was silent._

I let out an awed breath as I finish.

For some reason, I can’t shake the notion that I’ve heard something like this before. A man and a woman abandoning a child and immediately vanishing without a trace…

That’s when it clicks.

Prosperus. The story about the king and queen.

They… they vanished the same way, doing the same thing.

That means…

“Jameson,” I ask quietly, and the gentleman lifts his eyes to me responsively. I take one more breath and give him my question. “Are you… are you familiar with the story of the royal family?”

He shifts his gaze slightly in thought, then raises a hand horizontally and shakes it a small bit, as if to tell me he he’s not a hundred percent certain on all of it, but that he’s heard it before.

“Because…” I continue, giving the notebook back to him. “I don’t know if you remember, but in that story, the king and queen– _they disappeared the night they went to abandon their child.”_

His eyebrows shoot straight up, like he’d somehow forgotten that detail entirely, or never heard it to begin with. I nod back, hoping he sees my point.

His wide eyes fall and a quick hand dashes into his bright blue hair, as if he’s just now realizing the real importance of his story– and also of the so-called “curse” that’s kept him quiet for the majority of his life.

After a few more moments, he whips his pen out again and writes swiftly, albeit with shakier fingers this time, and he passes the message my way.

_It all makes sense to me now– if my memory serves me correctly, it was said that the greatest evil in the land was to be born with their child. That must be what I saw– that… that entity, that monstrosity that stole my voice– it was this same evil, wasn’t it?_

“Exactly what I’m thinking,” I answer, then my confidence fades a little, my eyes narrowing. “But… wait, why would it want to keep itself a secret? Why go to such lengths to make sure no one knew?”

Tapping his pen against his chin a few times, he writes once more, pausing every few words as if deep in thought.

_I suppose if everyone knew, it would be much harder for it to maintain its control over us, wouldn’t it?_

This is all starting to make way too much sense to me– what Prosperus said about the strange force overtaking the entire kingdom, Schneeplestein’s research about some mysterious being breaking the passage of time, and now this.

“Jameson,” I say again, meeting his bright blue eyes with a surge of determination. “What if I were to tell you that I intend to enter the castle and stop this entity once and for all?”

After raising his eyebrows, he quickly gives me his response:

_I’d say that I’d like to help you in whatever way I can._


	20. A Greater Purpose

After getting us settled in for the night by the gentle fire in the fireplace, the three of us sit together once more.

“You said you were a palace guard once?” I ask our host softly, curiously.

Jameson nods and quickly writes his response.

_Indeed. Though they don’t have much use for me now– there are many younger and more able-bodied soldiers coming up from training– but they’ll call upon me if they’re shorthanded._

“Wow,” Marv says, giving him a glance. “That must be an interesting job.”

Jameson silently takes a big sigh and nods again.

_You’ve no idea, the things I’ve seen and heard about the way this kingdom is run from the inside. Actually…_

After showing us the first part of the message, his gaze lowers as if he’s wondering whether to trust us with some secret information… then, he takes another breath and continues writing.

_My former comrades told me secrets about this place that I almost refused to believe, until I witnessed them at work with my own eyes._

I raise my eyebrows. “Secrets?”

Our host nods once more, quickly writing another message to us.

_It was… strange. They’d tell me such horrifying things– that there was no leader to our kingdom, that we were all serving the purpose blindly… and yet, when I’d see them again, it was as if they’d completely forgotten they’d ever seen or said anything. It was as if… there was a reason they’d been telling me these things. Perhaps… in the end, it was to help you._

Marv and I exchange a glance, and Jameson looks back at us with a serious glimmer in his eyes.

“So you’re saying… you think that there’s a bigger reason for all of this?” I ask quietly.

Jameson swallows, then gives me his response.

_After some thought, yes. I believe that there is something going on here that is greater than all of us– and that you, Jack, will be the one to put an end to it._

—

I let out a single breath at his words.

“Why me, though?” I can’t help but wonder out loud.

“Maybe it’s got something to do with Loinnir?” Marv suggests, nodding to where it’s sheathed at my side.

At this, Jameson’s eyebrows shoot up, and he quickly writes his question.

_Loinnir– do you, perchance, mean the sword that once belonged to the royal family?_

I nod to him and slowly pull the blade out, its golden hilt flickering with the reflections of the firelight.

His eyes wide, our host gently takes the sword from me and turns it over in his hands.

After a few moments, he gives it back to me and shakily scribbles a response.

_I’ve only heard the legends of this blade… that it was stolen many years ago, after the royal family had disappeared. And yet, here it is, under your command!_

I let out a bit of a laugh. “It’s more of _it_ that commands _me–_ but yes, I can wield it.”

Breathing quickly, he keeps going:

_But… the legends say that only the true prince can wield Loinnir. Are you…?_

“Me?” I can’t help but ask incredulously. “Not a chance. I was born and raised on the outskirts of the kingdom– I’m nowhere near royalty.”

Jameson stands as he goes on, his eyes wider than ever.

_But, the night I saw the king and queen abandon the prince– they left him in the outskirts of the kingdom! And he was very much alive!_

I stand with him, nervous now.

“That… that doesn’t mean anything,” I try to tell him, unable to shake an odd sense of foreboding from my chest.

Jameson steps closer to me.

_It was a February night, I’m sure of it. Does that mean anything to you?_

My gaze falls a small bit. “… my birthday’s in February.”

I shake my head, blinking.

“But– but that’s only a coincidence,” I try to say. “It _has_ to be…”

One question suddenly pounds into my thoughts with my heartbeat.

“Jameson,” I ask softly, meeting his gaze. “Did you ever hear what the prince’s name might’ve been?”

Narrowing his eyes for a moment and rapidly turning the page, he quickly writes one more statement that shakes me to my core:

_It was whispered among my comrades that the king and queen had chosen a name before he was born, and that its meaning was nothing less than ‘a gracious gift from the gods'… “Seán”’._

As I finish reading, my arms go limp, and Loinnir clatters to the floor.

My chest begins to rise and fall quickly, and I can’t stop it.

“Jack?” Marvin’s voice says to me as I feel him stand behind me. “Are you alright?”

I shake my head a tiny bit.

“That name,” I murmur, my lips barely moving. “That name… it’s what the voice in my nightmares calls me.”

As if to taunt me, I hear muffled laughter in the back of my mind as I speak.

I press my eyes closed. This can’t be…

“Jack…” I hear Marvin say to me with quiet awe. “You're…!”

“We… we don’t know that for sure,” I answer, my voice beginning to tremble.

But before I can protest, Jameson, still standing before us, gives me a smile, sets his notes down, and bows to me.

I can barely process what’s happening– my thoughts are rushing too fast. Has my whole life been a lie? Are my parents not my own? Have they known this about me, all this time?

Looking back up to me, Jameson pulls me back out of my head, and writes me one more message.

_It will be an honor to serve you, Your Highness!_

—

I can’t sleep. There’s too much going on in my thoughts…

Am I really the lost prince? Is that why I can wield Loinnir, why I’m immune to the green light, why I have this other voice inside my head? Did my birth bring the land’s greatest evil into the world? Is this all part of some greater plan that we’re all nothing but pawns in…?

As if to answer, I feel another presence take its place in the back of my mind…

_Seán… it’s nearly time for us to meet._

I toss and turn.

_Get out of my head,_ I think in response.

_I’m afraid I can’t do that, Seán._

Laughter rings in my ears.

_Stop calling me that name,_ I argue.

Behind my eyes, an image begins to form– a faded shape of a person, eyes black as pitch. Green smoke invades my brain as it appears…

_You really think you can stop me, don’t you?_

I clench my jaw.

_It doesn’t matter if I’m the lost prince or not. I didn’t come all this way for nothing._

I feel the sensation of something sharp against my throat again, as if there’s a knife there ready to slice it open.

_You’ll see things my way soon enough, Seán. Then… that’s when the fun will truly begin._

I roll onto my side, pulling my knees to my chest.

_I’ll never agree with you on anything!_

More laughter.

_We’ll see about that, won’t we, Seán?_

Then, just like that, it all disappears.

I blink my eyes open slowly and turn back onto my back. My hands make fists at my sides as I take one more decisive breath.

_I’m going to stop you. Once and for all._


	21. The Name of Action

The next morning, I wake up with a surge of newfound confidence.

It doesn’t matter whether I’m the lost prince or not. What I intend to do is going to free everyone– and if I’m the one destined to do that, royalty or not, I’ll do it.

As I walk into the room where my companions are waiting, they both look to me– Jameson still with wonder in his eyes, Marvin with curiosity.

I take a deep breath, feeling the pressure.

“Look, I don’t care if either of you think I’m the prince or not. It shouldn’t matter. It doesn’t change the fact that I need to do this, and that I need help from you both.”

The two exchange a quick glance, then look back at me.

I look at each of them in turn.

“Are you with me?”

They both stand, and Marvin smiles.

“I’ve been with you since the start,” he tells me, nodding. “I’m sticking with you to the end.”

Following suit, Jameson whips out his notes, writing quickly, then showing it to me.

_I’m with you, Jack._

I find myself grinning.

“Then let’s get down to work." 

—

We spend all morning together, attempting to devise a plan. Jameson brings his old castle maps to the table, pointing me in which directions I’ll need to go.

Marvin begins to empty out his satchel, showing me more phials I could use to disguise myself and slip through the gates. All of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, but I opt for invisibility again– it’s the easiest, and I’ve already had my practice with it. I’ll need to be quick in my ascent to the palace though, since it doesn’t last long.

Turning me back towards his maps gently, Jameson writes me a message with a flourish.

_Rumor has it that, at the top of the tallest tower, there’s a room with a single mirror. The whisper goes that whoever rules us all is ruling from inside of it, as if by magic. You’ll need to safely maneuver your way past the guards in front of the throne room in order to reach the sanctum._

I nod. "Is there anything else I need to know?”

Putting his pen to his chin for a moment, he continues.

_The rumors also said that in order to access the entity in the mirror, one must speak the words– “Mirror mirror, on the wall, who’s the master of us all?”_

“Got it.” I let out a small breath, then something else hits me. “Wait, if you know all of this, then why hasn’t anyone done anything about this before now?”

Jameson shudders as he gives me his answer.

_The truth is… the sanctum is surrounded with an aura of dread. It was said to be so powerful, it would eat away at your very soul. No one dared to go up there unprepared, and those who did never came back…_

I raise my eyebrows, a sense of foreboding building in my chest as we go on.

By afternoon, we’ve figured out my course once I get into the castle– in a trapdoor that leads to the dungeon, up a ladder, past the throne room, through a secret door in the library, and up a tall, winding staircase– but then, the problem arises; how exactly do I get in there in the first place?

Jameson suggests we take his horse and carriage, while Marvin proposes the use of more phials. After consideration of each plan, I go with the carriage idea– it’ll buy me more time with the invisibility if all goes well.

Evening eventually falls, and by the time it does, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more afraid in my life. Just talking about doing all this is one thing– but actually putting it to action is another entirely.

I stand slowly, and both my host and my companion join me. Jameson’s eyes search me as if to ask me if something’s wrong.

I swallow and close my eyes.

“Marvin, I…” I let out, knowing that this is what’s been weighing on me. “I don’t want you coming in after me.”

His eyebrows raise and his gaze softens. “What? But… we’ve been together all this time. The least I could do is come in and help!”

“Marv, I mean it,” I assert, my own sadness at our inevitable parting rising up in me. My gaze falls– I can’t look him in the eyes as I go on. “It’s going to be too dangerous– it might even be too dangerous for _me._ I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I haven’t told either of them yet, but I have a growing feeling that once I head into the castle, I won’t be coming back out.

Jameson seems to see it in my body language, though. I feel his hand come down on my shoulder gently.

Slowly I look up to the gentleman and swallow.

“Listen, Jameson,” I tell him quietly, my stomach dropping as I meet his gaze. “Can I ask you something?”

He nods a little, and I can see nothing but sincerity in his expression.

“If… if anything should happen to me, if I don’t come back out… can you make sure that Marvin gets home for me?” I ask quietly, trying to swallow the lump forming in my throat.

As I finish, he pulls me into an embrace. I flinch at first, a bit surprised, but then I feel his comforting warmth, and it reminds me of home. I rest my chin on his shoulder.

Marvin doesn’t say anything to me for the rest of the night, other than showing me the phial he intends to give me before I go in tomorrow. It’s the same as before– deep, night-sky blue, with silver flecks that swirl like stars.

As we all get settled in for the night once more, I lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, lost in my thoughts.

This is it. The end of my journey. It’s all come on so fast, and yet… I can’t help feeling that I was meant to do this.

I close my eyes, and in my dreams, I see home again. My mother and father– if they truly are my mother and father– look at me with a mixture of pride and sadness, as if they always knew this day was coming. Kris is with them, his eyes open for the first time, looking as though he wish he could tell me something. I try to tell them that it’s all going to be okay, but I can’t speak. We can only stare as the moment comes closer and closer…

As the clock ticks, my eyes open on their own. It’s morning now.

Jameson comes and shakes me awake, and he looks at me as if to tell me we should be going. Then he looks over at Marv, sleeping in his cat form, and back to me as if to ask if we should wake him.

Instead of answering him, I step silently over to where Marvin is sleeping and give him a stroke behind his ear. He blinks slowly and looks up at me as if to tell me that he doesn’t want to say goodbye…

I try to give him one more smile to remember me by. “It’s gonna be alright, Marv. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Blinking once more, he sits up and rubs his forehead against my hand affectionately.

After sharing one more long look at each other, I tear myself away and close my eyes, letting out a big breath as the backs of my eyes faintly sting.

“Let’s get going, Jameson.”

—

After I pick up Marv’s phial, Jameson loads his carriage with me in tow, and it’s off we head towards the palace.

The cobblestone road beneath us bumping us along, I have some final thoughts as I look outward to the morning sky.

My heart is surprisingly steady now, even though I can’t help feeling like I’m on my way to my own execution. For some reason, doing this, I'm… at peace.

My thoughts are interrupted by us slowing down– we must be approaching the gates. I pull the phial out of my pocket quietly and wait with it resting against my lips…

“Ah, hello, Sir Jackson. Here on official business, are you?”

…

“Then surely, you won’t mind if we check your carriage over?”

…

Footsteps.

I down the elixir as quickly as I can, feeling the tingly warmth spread throughout my body again as I vanish. I look down, and all I can see is the seat beneath me.

The doors open on both sides. I hold my breath as two royal guardsmen look through me…

…

“Yes, sir. Everything seems to be in check.”

The doors close again, and I release a silent exhale.

We begin moving again, but not for very long. In a few moments after Jameson gets the carriage situated, he comes and casually opens the door as if pretending to ponder climbing inside. This is my chance to get out.

Slipping past him, I murmur “thank you” in his ear and make my escape towards the steps. Scaling them quickly, I sneak past the gatehouses and up to the castle walls.

Heading to the west side, I find the trapdoor and silently pry it open, slipping down into the darkness. Feeling my way around, I find the ladder on the wall and quickly climb it to find another trapdoor in the floor above me– this time, I appear near the throne room, just like Jameson’s maps said.

Sneaking past the two guards clad in green guarding the entrance, I can’t help but pause and peer in… the two thrones are empty, and there’s a portrait on the wall behind them of a man and a woman with a black veil drawn over it. Not giving myself any time to question why they look vaguely familiar, I keep going.

The royal library comes next. I’m in awe of how many books there really are here– I’ve never seen anything like it, except for maybe the library in the lower chambers of Prosperus’s shop.

I know what I’m looking for, and I can’t let myself get distracted. On the far side of the room is a shelf that sticks out slightly more than the rest– I go over to it and pull a deep black leather-bound tome from it, and with a small creak, it gently swings open to reveal a passage.

As soon as I step inside and the door closes behind me, I feel it– a sensation that courses through my entire body. It tenses all of my muscles and nearly paralyzes me, but I push through it and start making my way up the staircase. As I ascend, I notice that my eyes begin to itch…

I keep climbing, finding myself fighting with everything I have just to keep from collapsing. This feeling– it’s like I’m being drowned, and the water keeps getting higher and higher above me. I close my eyes and grit my teeth, but the weight of the world keeps pulling down on me…

No. I didn’t come this far to be defeated by a staircase. I press on, and on, and on, until finally…

The weight releases me as I reach the very top, and I find myself breathing hard as my body reappears beneath me.

I take a few deep breaths and get my bearings. I’ve arrived at the top of the tower, where there’s nothing but a set of dark doors before me. Other than those, there’s nothing but an open window to my left.

Seeing as this might be my last opportunity, I step slowly over to it and peek out at the kingdom I call home.

Everything has led to this– from the day I ran from home, to finding Marvin, then Chase, then Henrik, then Sam, then finally Jameson…

I close my eyes a final time and thank all of them for helping me get here. I don’t know what I would’ve done without their help.

Then, opening my eyes again and stepping back, I look down to where my hand brushes Loinnir at my side, and I give myself a nod.

It’s time.


	22. Enjoy the Show

Silently I slip through the doors to the sanctum, swallowing any fear left in me.

The ceiling in here is high, and on either side of me are rows of open windows, the long navy drapes flowing with the passing of the breeze. Before me on the wall sits a tall mirror, and yet, my eyes can’t find a single reflection in its dark surface.

My footsteps echo as I slowly approach it, my hand tightly gripping Loinnir’s hilt.

Turning around one more time and looking back at the open doors I came through, I take a deep breath and look back to the glass.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” I say firmly, knowing I’m ready for what’s to come. “Who’s the master of us all?”

As I finish the words, I’m shaken by the sound of the doors slamming behind me. In an instant, all of the dark curtains fly closed on their own, snuffing out any light that dares try to intrude.

A hissing sound gets me to turn back toward the mirror, and within it, I see a growing mass of green smoke…

A few moments pass in silence. Then, gulping and unsheathing Loinnir, I step up close to the glass…

“Who are you? Show yourself!” I call out, ready to swing my blade if I have to.

For a moment, I see my own reflection. My bright blue eyes burning with determination, my expression searching for something it can’t find.

But then…

Suddenly my own image morphs away, and in its place is a sinister, growing smile, and a gaze that locks onto mine like a vice.

“Why,” a familiar voice says to me, chuckling softly in the back of my mind as the words come from a twisted version of my own mouth in the mirror. “I’m _you,_ Jack.”

—

Breathing hard, my hand suddenly goes loose, and Loinnir clatters to the ground at my side.

More of his broken laughter rings in my ears.

“That’s right, Seán,” he whispers to me, and his haunting voice shakes me to my core. “All of the legends that you’ve heard so much about? How the greatest evil in the land was to be born with you? That… was… _me.”_

With a snap of his ghostly fingers in the glass, sickly green smoke starts seeping into the room from inside the mirror, passing through the solid barrier like it’s nothing. It swirls around my legs as it floods onto the floor…

A gust of wind snaps through all of the drapes as my own distorted voice begins to laugh at me. The smoke flares up into plumes all around me, forming grotesque images of scenes I’ve seen before…

A crowd of innumerable people, standing and facing a great, dark castle in the distance.

“All of those nights on your birthday… all of those people, when you’d run helpless to each one of them and they wouldn’t respond to you… they were all listening to _me._ I could wipe all of their memories in a single night… the only one I could never control was you. But you always felt _something,_ didn’t you, Jack? You were always such a strange little boy, weren’t you?”

The smoke swirls around me again, this time forming the shape of… Marvin?

“Ah, yes, the sorcerer’s meddling apprentice. He proved quite useful for my purposes. He always knew a way to help you… I must say, bravo. It was as if he let me assist you every step of the way!”

Collapsing, Marvin’s shape quickly morphs into that of a hunter wielding a crossbow… Chase.

“The huntsman. You know he never misses his mark. So why did he miss you…? I couldn’t have you dying on me before you got here. I guided his arrow that day, Jack. I guess this means you owe me thanks for your life.”

As he finishes, Chase’s image becomes that of an apothecary, digging his hands through his hair as if he’s going insane. It’s Henrik.

The entity in the mirror chuckles as he begins again.

“The poor, crazed apothecary! All of those innocent lives he stole… all of his murders were me, controlling him like a puppet. I got rather bored waiting for you to turn up, and he proved to be the perfect plaything. He didn’t know what he was dealing with when he tried to resist me… I shifted my tactic, made him believe he was insane. Made him believe that all the blood was on _his_ hands. It only made perfect sense for you to meet him on your journey.”

Henrik’s shape falls away, and next up is a swordsman– I recognize it as Sam.

“The hooded hero. To be quite honest, he wasn’t useful to me for much– but he _did_ happen to unite you with that blade. Thanks to him, we can finally use it for what it was meant for– to make us whole again.”

Before I can ask what he means, Sam dissipates, and the green clouds take a final form in Jameson.

“And last but certainly not least… the silent gentleman. Without him, you wouldn’t have reached me now– so I needed to leave him alive on that fateful night I stole his voice. I’ve always been planning for this to happen, Jack. I’ve been waiting our entire life for this moment.”

With more of the voice’s laughter, the smoke spirals around my feet again.

“I’ve been watching you from behind every pair of eyes in every person you’ve ever met. Every last one of them… mere puppets for my playing with. It was laughable, how quickly and easily you came to trust all of them, when they only ever served _me_ in the end.”

I find myself breathing hard, refusing to believe what he’s telling me.

No… that can’t be true. Not all of it.

“Why would you go to such lengths to bring me here?” I ask angrily, clenching my fists. “Why go through all that trouble?”

His sinister smile grows once more.

“Because…” he says in a low voice, his eyes going pitch black. “I need you, Jack.”

I narrow my gaze. “You need me? For what?”

For once, he sighs.

“You see, I cannot leave this mirror,” he tells me, tapping on the glass from his side. “When I entered it, I was sealed in here indefinitely, because I’m merely half of a human soul with no body to inhabit. The only one I ever had… was yours.”

My eyebrows furrow. “What… what are you saying?”

“I can’t inhabit a body that already has a soul inside of it. But you… you’re only _half_ of a soul, Jack. I am your other half.”

His grin spreads wickedly across his face again as he continues.

“You can free me from this mirror. You can let me in and accept me as a part of you. And once you do… everyone down in the kingdom will be free from me, once and for all.”

My heart pounds in my chest.

“You and I have the same perspective on this world, Jack,” he continues, repeating my name. “We both know that time doesn’t quite work correctly anymore, that everyone is living the same day over and over and bearing their same pains again and again when they don’t need to anymore. If you do this, all of that will be fixed for them. All it’ll take is you releasing me from this mirror and accepting me as a part of you.”

My thoughts swarm my mind.

“Don’t you want to bear the burden for them, Jack?” he tempts, leaning on the glass and staring right into me. “I know you do.”

If I do this, then… everyone will be free of this… this puppetmaster?

But then, what would happen to me…?

… does it matter? It’d be one tortured existence in the place of the many… is that a price I’m willing to pay?

“Use Loinnir to break the glass, Jack.” My flickering reflection presses his hands against the barrier separating us. “Do it, and we’ll be whole again…!”

My gaze falls to where Loinnir sits on the floor where I dropped it.

I close my eyes for a moment, one more question coming to me.

“The king and queen,” I say, looking at my darker half and stepping closer. “What happened to them?”

At this, he scowls, his narrow eyes going pitch black.

“Ah, yes, dear old mother and father,” he mocks, clearly holding contempt after all these years. “The ones who clearly cared so much for us. I was afraid you’d ask about them.”

He lets out a breath through angrily gritted teeth and waves his arm, revealing two hazy figures behind him that appear to be sleeping side by side.

His eyes fade from black back to vibrant green, and he sighs.

“They’ve stayed dormant like this since just after the day you were born. They’re sealed in here, just like I am,” he explains, looking in their direction with disgust. “It’s been so long that I think I’m the only thing keeping them alive. Once I leave this mirror, there won’t be any life force left, and they’ll finally die for good.”

I shake my head.

“N-no,” I stammer. “There has to be a way to save them, too!”

_“What?”_ he asks, shocked. “You _care_ about them? Why? It’s not like they ever cared for you! They didn’t even care enough about you to tell your adoptive parents your real name or who you really were!”

“That doesn’t mean they deserve to die like this!” I shout back, my fists clenching even harder.

“They haven’t been able to wake up for years now, Jack!” As his tone raises, the emerald clouds start whirling around my feet again, billowing with his voice. “They’re already as good as dead!”

“Because of _you!”_ I feel determination rising in my chest with every breath I take. “You must be able to wake them up. You just choose not to because they’re a threat to your power!”

_“ENOUGH!”_

His voice resonates through my whole body, and I’m forced to stop.

He sighs in frustration.

“Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be, Jack,” he finishes, staring me dead in the eyes. “I can hear the reasoning in your mind. You think the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few. If you don’t do this, everyone down there will continue to suffer, and _it will be all your fault,_ because you didn’t have what it takes to do what you needed to do to save them. Is that _really_ what you want, just to make sure that your birth parents aren’t dead?”

My gaze falls again as his point is made.

For a few moments, I’m at war with myself. I’d accept this if it meant that the king and queen would survive… but then, if I don’t do this, everyone I’ve ever known would continue to be subjected to this torture and not even realize it. It’d haunt me for the rest of my life, knowing that I could’ve done something to stop it…

I let out a short breath and reach down to where Loinnir sits on the floor, tightly gripping the hilt this time.

The demon in the mirror grins his sinister grin again.

“Excellent,” he says softly, chuckling. “You’re ready to accept our fate then, are you?”

I meet his eyes and lock onto them. He thinks he’s already won…

I smile a little as I give him my final answer.

_“Nope.”_

Rushing up to the glass, I pull my sword arm back, and then, with a mighty swipe, Loinnir swings in and out of the barrier as if it isn’t even there, slicing clean across his neck.

He shrieks in surprise and in pain, and as he falls to his knees in the mirror, the billowing green smoke instantly begins to dissipate.

“Wh… _what have you done?!”_ he shouts at me, his voice even more broken as he struggles to hold the wound closed.

I step closer to him, sheathing Loinnir again.

“You’ve held control for far too long,” I tell him, and I can’t help but grin. “It’s _my_ turn now.”

“Wh… you mean…” he stutters, coughing between his words. “You’d abandon… everyone you’ve ever known… just for power!?”

My feet fall with a certainty as I step even closer. “I’m not abandoning them. I’ll always be there, for all of them. It’s time to use this power for good.”

The last of the green light leaking from the mirror to the floor, he looks up at me one last time.

“This isn’t over, Jack,” he whispers, his words fading from the back of my mind. “I’ll find a way to return. And when I do…”

Before he can finish, his form vanishes, and the mirror begins to glow bright white.

I close my eyes, then open them again.

“And when you do, we’ll be ready.”

I take one more deep breath and step forward into the glass before it can shatter, and as I do, I feel its barrier seal itself behind me as my body falls away…


	23. In the Glass

When I find myself awake again, all I know is that I’m very, very cold, and that wherever I am is very, very bright.

Over the sound of receding white noise, I can hear a voice.

“Seán,” I can just make out. “Seán!”

I stir in place, unable to move from my curled-up position on the ground.

A warm hand touches my skin.

“Seán, please, wake up.” A new voice joins the first, and the two of them sound strangely familiar in my ears… 

—

I blink the light away from my eyes, and before me is a blurry image of two people, a man and a woman. The woman is on her knees with her hand resting on my arm, and standing above us is the man, keeping a safe distance but inching closer in curiosity.

I let out a soft moan and try to move, but I can’t even really lift my head before it falls down again.

I see the two figures exchange another glance, then the woman leans down closer to me and starts gently lifting me up by the shoulders until I’m upright and leaning on my hands.

“Oh, Seán, you’re so cold!” I hear her say to me. Then she pulls me close to her in an embrace. “Here…”

My eyes fall closed again as her warmth envelopes me. It feels… nice…

Suddenly my whole body tingles to life. A spark of heat comes alive again in my heart, and clarity makes its way back to me…

I make myself pull away, but I still use her arms as balance as I manage my first few shaky breaths in this strange place.

“Who…” I murmur at first, finally lifting my cleared gaze to these people before me. “Who are you?”

I hear the man chuckle quietly, and the woman’s soft smile grows.

“It’s really been a long time since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it?” she tells me, her soothing voice sounding like music. She runs her fingers through my hair gently, stopping behind my ear and holding my head for a few moments before she goes on. “It’s us, child. We’re your birth parents.”

My… my birth parents?

Something clicks in my head.

The king and queen. They’re here with me, calling me their child. That means…

The man finally comes closer and kneels down beside us on one knee.

“You made a noble choice, son,” he says quietly in a gruff, low, majestic voice. “You sacrificed your freedom for our sake when you’d never even met us. Why?”

I finally catch my breath and let my own smile begin to emerge.

“I didn’t sacrifice my freedom, not really,” I answer, recent events coming back to my memory as I speak. “The mirror allows whoever’s inside to see anywhere and anyone in the whole kingdom at any time. If physical freedom is the price I need to pay to make sure that villain never takes control of this power again, then I’ll pay it.”

The queen laughs softly again and pulls me into her arms once more, and in the corner of my eye, the king’s grin grows.

“Spoken like a true prince,” he murmurs under his breath, beaming with pride.

The prince…

“That’s right, isn’t it?” the queen wonders, holding me at arm’s length again. “No one ever told you that you were royalty, did they?”

“No.” I shake my head a little and drop my gaze, a little confused but more intrigued by the concept. “It seems strange to think about now, that I’ve carried royal blood all my life and never known about it.”

“But now you’re finally here with us, son,” the king explains, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I hope you can forgive us for all the years we’ve missed. That demon kept us paralyzed, but not blind. We were able to watch you as you grew up. We could see through the eyes of your parents that you were being raised well. Perhaps you didn’t know it at the time, but on every step of your journey here, we followed you as best we could.”

My eyebrows raise. “R-really?”

The queen nods.

“In the end, you saw through the villain’s lies and still refused to believe that the two of us were beyond saving. For that, we cannot be more grateful to you.”

“And now we can finally be together again, as the family we were always meant to be,” the king finishes, pulling me and his wife into his arms in a strong embrace. I hear his breaths catch in his chest, and I can feel his joy. “It’s wonderful to finally have you back with us, Prince Seán.”

As he ends his sentence, something else hits me.

“Heh… that’s going to take some getting used to, isn’t it?” I say quietly, partially to them, mostly to myself. “Being called Seán from now on?”

The three of us split apart, and the queen lets out another small laugh.

“Ah, that’s right,” she ponders. “You were given a different name by your adoptive parents, weren’t you?”

I nod. “Jack.”

The king chuckles once more. “Another strong name. An excellent choice for a boy destined for greatness.”

As he finishes, the queen helps me stand on my trembling legs for the first time here, and I can’t help looking around…

The space around me looks like the inside of a castle, but it’s as if everything here was frozen over by ice. The bluish crystalline walls go up so high that I don’t think there’s a ceiling– they just fade away into whiteness. Nearby are two long pedestals raised slightly from the cold ground– that must’ve been where the king and queen had been asleep.

I peek behind me to see the same mirror that I passed through from the opposite side, showing me the outside world through its window. The room beyond the glass looks peaceful now– the drapes have all opened again, letting the natural light inside. And on the floor of the room beneath the mirror’s edge lies my own empty body… the only physical thing I seem to have brought with me through to the other side is Loinnir, which shimmers surreally in the otherworldly glow of this new place.

I get stuck staring at myself. There’s a red scar running across my neck now, as if that demon switched places with me at the last possible moment and used me as a vessel to die in…

As I think the thought, my limp body on the other side slowly gets swallowed by the last of the lingering green smoke, and then… it dissipates, leaving nothing behind.

I find my breath catching in my lungs a little bit, and I raise my hand to my chest.

I turn back to both of them.

“Was… was he right?” I can’t help asking. “Or was he bluffing when he said he’d controlled all of them to bring me here?”

“While it was true that he had been watching you through them, how much influence he’d had over their actions waned as you made progress,” the queen explains to me, shaking her head and resting her hand on my shoulder reassuringly. “They were not all mere puppets of his, Seán. Your friendships were all true.”

Hearing that brings relief to me for a moment, but then…

My gaze falls.

“Will I ever see them again?” I can’t help but murmur.

They look to each other, then back at me.

“I’m afraid that it's… impossible for you to leave the mirror world now,” the king tells me, coming closer. His strength comforts me. “But… there is a way for you to see them all again.”

He nods towards the glass on the wall, and in it, instead of the sanctum room beyond, I see wisps of the last glowing green fog.

I step closer, and it flares up to meet me on the other side…

“That monster used this to see through the eyes of the people you held close,” he explains, bidding me go closer. “Seán, it’s your turn now. Once you assume the mirror’s power… everything will be set right again.”

I close my eyes briefly, thinking of what I’m about to do, of all the choices I’ve made that led me to this moment… then I take a deep breath and open them again, filled with determination.

Slowly I reach my hand up towards the glass, and once I meet its surface, something new begins to happen…

The emerald smoke immediately disappearing at my touch, tendrils of blue light suddenly spread from my fingertips, streaking both inside the mirror and out towards me, surrounding me, pulling me closer and closer to its source until–


	24. Epilogue: The Kingdom that Saw the Light

It was said that streaks of the brightest blue light could be seen illuminating the sky throughout the entire kingdom of Posmea that night.

The people had awoken from their trance for the first time in the many years that had passed. Realizing what had happened, they all rushed outside their homes and looked to the distant castle, focused on the brilliant cerulean glow radiating from the top of the highest tower.

As it spread through the skies, so too did its influence. A silent gentleman who lived in Castle Town found his voice again. A young sorcerer found his way home, braver and more sure of himself for having gone on a magnificent adventure. A heartbroken hunter found it in himself to go home to his family and was welcomed with open arms. A struggling apothecary realized that he had been not to blame for his actions, and he was forgiven by those he had acted against. Those living in the forest beyond the limits saw the light and threw a celebration that lasted until the bright morning stars shone through the treetops.

With the rising of the sun, all that had been wrong was made right again.

…

But not all fairytales can have a happy ending, can they?

—

His eyes opened slowly to nothing but pitch blackness.

The last of his power coursing through his veins, he opened and closed his fists at his sides as feeling spread throughout this new body. Breathing was proving to be difficult with the slit in his throat, but with each shaky inhale, he exhaled with his broken, squeaky laughter.

It had worked.

He gradually sat up, clicking his bones into place and adjusting to his new, cold skin. His neck crackled when he turned it to each side and got his bearings…

Even with his glowing green eyes adjusting to the darkness, he couldn’t piece together where he was. Carefully he stood on trembling legs, only lowering himself back to his knees once.

Behind him, daylight pierced his being, and he flinched at its gentle touch. Turning around, he looked up to see that there was a small window just above him, with vertical bars blocking his way from reaching the outside.

He smiled, and he snapped his fingers.

Instantly, his physical form melted back into green smoke, slipping through the bars with the wind. Within moments, he was standing again, this time on the outside of the castle on the lush grass.

As he reformed, he let out another quiet, high-pitched chuckle.

He was back. In fact, he’d never left.

And he was going to personally make sure that everyone in Posmea lived happily n̢̩̪̰̭͚ͅe͏̗v̥̱͚͡e͙͚̜̙͟r͙̰̫̘ after.

…

But that, dear reader, is another story, for another time.

**~The End~**


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